Venus Arming Mars
| Object type | Painting |
| Genre | Classical Mythology |
| Date | ca. 1608 |
| Dimensions | 51 x 77 cm |
| Support | Copper |
| Medium | Oil |
| Signature | BRUEGHEL 160(8?) |
| Our attribution | Jan Brueghel the Elder |
| Other authorities | Ertz 2008-10, #396 Ertz 1979, #191 |
| Location | St. Petersburg, Russia |
| Collection | The Hermitage |
| Tags | Horse, Van Balen, Nude, Putti, Classical, History, Interior Scene, Mythological, Armor |
No known copies of this which itself is unusual. Together with Milan allegory of Fire, this is Jan's earliest work on this theme -- but it is (still) a history painting, which is characteristic of Jan -- the change, around this period, from narrative paintings to allegorical ones.
According to Werche this is an allegory not a narrative, and there is a note at Rubenianum stating that in 1930 in the depot in Potsdam there was an "Allegory of Earth" which could have been the pendant of the present painting.
Note similarities between setting of this work and the Prophecy of Isaiah, Ertz 2008-10 #219.