Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Intaglio with Venus Visiting the Forge of Vulcan
(Roman Empire )
This intaglio shows the goddess Venus visiting the forge of her husband Vulcan to collect the armor and weapons that she has convinced him to create for her son, Aeneas. Vulcan is seated on the right and holds a hammer in his raised right arm to strike the anvil before him. Venus is standing on the left and facing Vulcan. Although this specific moment is not described in Vergil's "Aeneid" (composed in the second half of the 1st century BCE), it is part of the story line of book 8, where Venus seduces Vulcan to get him to make the arms and later delivers them to Aeneas. Vergil (1st century BCE) wrote the "Aeneid" as a Latin epic poem in the model of the Greek "Iliad" and "Odyssey" by Homer (8th century BCE).
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Henry Walters, Baltimore, [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| 7/19/1976 | Treatment | cleaned |
Geographies
Roman Empire (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 13/16 × W: 5/8 × D: 1/4 in. (2.1 × 1.6 × 0.6 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
42.474