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Venus at the Forge of Vulcan
About the 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.
Inscriptions
verso of secondary support: center, in graphite: 371; lower center, in graphite: [illegible name ?] Aix 1665-1695 Paris; ruled lines and other illegible notations in black ink
Quick Overview
- Artist
- Louis Félix de La Rue (French, 1731–1777)
- Date
- 18th century
- Medium
- 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.)
- Type
- Drawing
- Classification
- Drawing
- Department
- Drawings
- Credit line
- Bequest of Muriel Butkin
- Accession no.
- 2017.212
Provenance
The Cleveland Museum of Art’s open-access data does not include an ownership history for this work. See the museum’s page for this work.
Data retrieved from the Cleveland Museum of Art on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.
Open-access museum record · AT-00011614
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