This large tapestry, woven in Brussels, belonged to one of the series that Perin del Vaga designed for the home of Andrea Doria, the Prince’s Palace.
This series has been modernly called Gods to grotesque: in each tapestry stands the symbol or allegory of a deity.The god Mars is here symbolized, in the center, by a panoply with two prisons, and accompanied by elaborate motifs of grotesque, phytomorphic gyros, monstrous creatures, cupids, winged victories.
Perin del Vaga, who had been a collaborator of Raphael in Rome, was called by Doria after 1527 to supervise the decoration and furnishing of that princely residence.