- Artist or Maker
- Enea Vico
Italy, Parma, 1523-1567 - Title
- The Forge of Vulcan
- Date Made
- c. 1543-1545
- Medium
- Engraving
- Dimensions
- Sheet: 12 1/8 × 16 3/8 in. (30.8 × 41.59 cm)
Image: 12 1/8 × 16 3/8 in. (30.8 × 41.59 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.88.91.55
- Collecting Area
- Prints and Drawings
- Curatorial Notes
Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and metalwork, labors in his forge, assisted by muscular Cyclopes who hammer on an anvil and operate a bellows. They are producing arrows for the Cupids gathering in the foreground at left with empty quivers. The dramatic positioning of the Cyclopes’ bodies infuses the scene with a sense of powerful activity. Their anatomical uniformity suggests that the artist worked from a small three-dimensional model, perhaps with the intention of showing the male body from multiple angles simultaneously.
Vico’s print was produced after a lost painting by Francesco Primaticcio that once hung above the mantel in the Cabinet du Roi at Fontainebleau. Italian artists like Primaticcio created innovative Mannerist decorations at the French court of Francis I (r. 1515−47), many of which were later reproduced in print by artists who took inspiration from their designs. In this instance, it is likely that Vico’s engraving was done after another artist who reproduced Primaticcio’s work in print, as it is in reverse from others of same subject, showing the rapidity with which designs could spread across physical boundaries, and ideas could be elaborated upon beyond their initial production, all through the medium of print.
Claire Spadafora Baes
2025
