Vulcan Presenting Venus with Arms for Aeneas (Boucher): Difference between revisions
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== Meaning of the painting == |
== Meaning of the painting == |
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All artists were going to grant small colored pictures to the Director General de Batiments. However, Boucher’s sketches did not align with his final version of the painting. Boucher typically does not work with oil sketching, making his original sketch of ''Venus at Fulcan’s Forge'' unique<ref name=":0" /> |
All artists were going to grant small colored pictures to the Director General de Batiments. However, Boucher’s sketches did not align with his final version of the painting. Boucher typically does not work with oil sketching, making his original sketch of ''Venus at Fulcan’s Forge'' unique.<ref name=":0" /> |
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Boucher’s painting,''Venus Requesting Vulcan for Arms for Aeneas'', is originally titled ''Venus at Vulcan’s Forge'' or ''The Forge of Lemnos'' as those were the titles at the Salon exhibition. ''Venus at Vulcan’s Forge'', depicts a scene in the eighth book of the [[Aeneid]]. The scene does not show Venus ordering the arms but rather returning to collect them from her husband. The book did not fully depict this scene in detail, so Boucher took creative freedom in his painting. Such as the addition of scattered roses, the Hours and the Graces. The symbolic meaning of the rose-crowned nymph still remains uncertain. However, Venus’s contact with Cupid’s dart is meant to symbolize the power of love she used to trick her husband into following through with her orders<ref name=":0" /> |
Boucher’s painting,''Venus Requesting Vulcan for Arms for Aeneas'', is originally titled ''Venus at Vulcan’s Forge'' or ''The Forge of Lemnos'' as those were the titles at the Salon exhibition. ''Venus at Vulcan’s Forge'', depicts a scene in the eighth book of the [[Aeneid]]. The scene does not show Venus ordering the arms but rather returning to collect them from her husband. The book did not fully depict this scene in detail, so Boucher took creative freedom in his painting. Such as the addition of scattered roses, the Hours and the Graces. The symbolic meaning of the rose-crowned nymph still remains uncertain. However, Venus’s contact with Cupid’s dart is meant to symbolize the power of love she used to trick her husband into following through with her orders.<ref name=":0" /> |
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== Reception of the tapestry == |
== Reception of the tapestry == |
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Revision as of 00:14, 7 April 2025
| Vulcan Presenting Venus with Arms for Aeneas | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | François Boucher |
| Year | 1757 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 320 cm × 320 cm (130 in × 130 in) |
| Location | Louvre, Paris |
Vulcan Presenting Venus with Arms for Aeneas (French: Les Forges de Vulcain) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the French painter François Boucher, executed in 1757 and now in the Louvre in Paris.[1][2] He produced it as the basis for one of a set of tapestries on The Loves of the Gods for King Louis XV as one of the four chosen artists to execute this task.[2][3] It is in the Rococo style and depicts the homely but muscular Vulcan on the ground in the right, offering up to the more celestial Venus the weapons he has forged for her son Aeneas. The work was poorly received by the public in comparison to the work of his counterparts despite Boucher’s recurring interest in this theme which informed his earlier guidance to his pupil Johann Christian von Mannlich. Reasons for this remain unclear despite speculation.
Boucher's influence & artistic ideals
The depiction of Venus at Vulcan's Forge was a recurring theme for François Boucher throughout his artistic career. Thus, when his pupil Johann Christian von Mannlich sought advice for a 1765 commission from his patron Duke Christian IV of Zweibrücken, Boucher naturally suggested Venus Coming to Vulcan to Ask for Arms for Her Son Aeneas. Boucher highlighted the artistic opportunities this subject would provide, noting it would allow for the depiction of cupids surrounding a woman's figure, alongside masculine forms and mythological elements.[3]
Insight into Boucher's methodology and inspiration for depicting the female figure comes from his critiques of Mannlich's work. He commented that Mannlich's female figures appeared either too thin or too masculine, asserting that ideal feminine beauty required a delicate and round form—qualities that, among all his models, he claimed only his gilder's wife possessed.[3]
Boucher's relationship with his gilder's wife seemingly went beyond using her as a live model, as she was also his mistress in the story retold by Mannlich. This relationship takes on greater significance considering he continued creating life studies with her despite public claims suggesting otherwise. His artistic interventions in Mannlich's composition, specifically positioning Venus atop clouds which was a distinctly Baroque element that drew the duke's disapproval, exemplified how Boucher's artistic decisions increasingly conflicted with evolving artistic preferences from the public in his final years.[3]
Creation of the painting
Boucher created this piece following his 1755 appointment at the Gobelins Manufactory, a prestigious tapestry workshop serving the French royal court. His profitable designs for Beauvais, a rival workshop, led Gobelins to secure his exclusive services as inspecteur that year.[3]
In November 1755, Marigny, Minister of the Arts, proposed seven new tapestries for King Louis XV’s apartment at Compiègne, though the project was never approved. However, it may have inspired Boucher’s 1756 color sketch of the painting.[3]
In May 1757, the King finally approved a four-tapestry commission, The Loves of the Gods, assigning each piece to a different prominent artist at the time: Carle Vanloo, Boucher, Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre, and Joseph-Marie Vien.[3]
By the end of August, the full-scale designs of the tapestry commissions were exhibited at the Salon, though Boucher’s submission was delayed despite his early start. Following the exhibition, the paintings were sent to Gobelins for weaving.[3]
Meaning of the painting
All artists were going to grant small colored pictures to the Director General de Batiments. However, Boucher’s sketches did not align with his final version of the painting. Boucher typically does not work with oil sketching, making his original sketch of Venus at Fulcan’s Forge unique.[3]
Boucher’s painting,Venus Requesting Vulcan for Arms for Aeneas, is originally titled Venus at Vulcan’s Forge or The Forge of Lemnos as those were the titles at the Salon exhibition. Venus at Vulcan’s Forge, depicts a scene in the eighth book of the Aeneid. The scene does not show Venus ordering the arms but rather returning to collect them from her husband. The book did not fully depict this scene in detail, so Boucher took creative freedom in his painting. Such as the addition of scattered roses, the Hours and the Graces. The symbolic meaning of the rose-crowned nymph still remains uncertain. However, Venus’s contact with Cupid’s dart is meant to symbolize the power of love she used to trick her husband into following through with her orders.[3]
Reception of the tapestry
Unfortunately for Boucher, his tapestry did not achieve the desired success, especially in comparison to those of his counterparts. This was seen when his tapestry was only woven four times, out of which one was for a replacement. And so, though reasons for the poor public reception remain unclear, some speculate that it might have to do with Boucher’s composition lacking a unified design[3].
Nonetheless, despite the work not having the desired effect on the public, the owner of the tapestries, Marigny, seemed to have taken a liking to these since he kept the colored sketches of them to himself. This was something noteworthy since, usually, Boucher’s tapestry sketches were kept to himself and not administrators, with the only other known exception being that of the chinoiserie tapestries which ended up with a friend of Boucher[3].
Following this, by 1758, the artists were tasked with two additional narrow tapestry panels. Boucher’s contribution, The Target of Love (French: La Cible d’Amour), is now in the Louvre[3].
References
- ^ Base Joconde: Reference no. 000PE000196, French Ministry of Culture. (in French)
- ^ a b Les forges de Vulcain ou Vulcain présentant à Vénus des armes pour Énée, Louvre collections
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Laing, Alastair (1986). François Boucher, 1703-1770. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. pp. 272–276.
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