Alegoría de la paz

By 1652 the Dutch had been at peace with Spain for four years. The Treaty of Munster, signed in 1648, closed a war that had run for eight decades and outlived nearly everyone who began it. Lievens painted this a little way into that quiet. A seated woman, Peace, is crowned with laurel by a figure in armour, while beneath her a man in armour lies with his hands wrapped in chains, war itself put down and bound. Around them the plain rewards of calm arrive. Women carry baskets of fruit, and a small putto beats a drum.