This paper proposes an interpretation of Mars desarmed from Venus and the Graces, Jacques-Louis David's last painting, done during his exile in Brussels, between 1822 and 1824. This painting breaks in a particular way with the new-classical canons, which David founded together with others artists and whom he was one of the most important representative. Therefore, the painting's reception was and is yet very complex and contradictory. Parting from the description of the painting and considering its history of reception, this article aims to show that this work expresses in a quite consequent manner David's position concerning the aesthetical debate of his time and the political situation in Europe during Bourbon's Restoration. The method used for the present interpretation was inspired by Walter Benjamin's figural conception of history, that, however, cannot be discussed in details here.
arts; politics; Walter Benjamin; Jacques-Louis David; new-classicism
