Venus at the Forge of Vulcan
Louis Félix de La Rue (French, 1731–1777)
18th century
Medium
Pen and brown ink, and brown wash (bistre) with red chalk and traces of graphite
Dimensions
19.9 × 32.6 cm · sheet: 19.6 × 32.2 cm
Classification
Drawing
Department
Drawings
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Bequest of Muriel Butkin
Accession Number
2017.212
Tags
male
About this artwork
Venus, the goddess of love, descends on a cloud into the forge of Vulcan, the god of fire and metalworking. This scene illustrates an episode from Virgil’s Aeneid in which Venus has come to collect the suit of armor she asked Vulcan to make for her son, Aeneas. Several putti on the left play with the finished product.