Venus at the Forge of Vulcan (18th century): Art, History and Details
Venus at the Forge of Vulcan at the Cleveland Museum of Art: 18th century, Pen and brown ink, and brown wash (bistre) with red chalk and traces of graphite. Explore the work's context, creator attribution and collection history.
Venus at the Forge of Vulcan (18th century) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Louis Félix de La Rue (French, 1731–1777).
The work and its context
The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:
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.
Object facts
- Title: Venus at the Forge of Vulcan
- Date: 18th century
- Creator attribution: Louis Félix de La Rue (French, 1731–1777)
- Culture: France
- Type: Drawing
- Technique: Pen and brown ink, and brown wash (bistre) with red chalk and traces of graphite
- Dimensions: Sheet: 19.6 x 32.2 cm (7 11/16 x 12 11/16 in.); Overall: 19.9 x 32.6 cm (7 13/16 x 12 13/16 in.)
- Collection: DR - French
- Department: Drawings
- Accession number: 2017.212
Collection credit
Bequest of Muriel Butkin
View the collection record
See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.
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