Venus and Mars Embracing as Vulcan Works at His Forge

Venus and Mars Embracing as Vulcan Works at His Forge

Enea Vico

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The beautiful Venus was oddly matched to the lame blacksmith Vulcan (the Greek Hephaistos), a virtuosic metalworker who forged Cupid's potent arrows as well as the elaborate armor of the gods and heroes. When the smith learned of his wife's long-running love affair with Mars (the Greek Ares), he retaliated by fashioning a net of iron so fine that it could not be seen and laying it over a bed to trap the lovers in an embrace. This print seems to depict Vulcan crafting the invisible links, while Venus and Mars continue, oblivious to his presence.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Venus and Mars Embracing as Vulcan Works at His ForgeVenus and Mars Embracing as Vulcan Works at His ForgeVenus and Mars Embracing as Vulcan Works at His ForgeVenus and Mars Embracing as Vulcan Works at His ForgeVenus and Mars Embracing as Vulcan Works at His Forge

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.