Venus in the Workshop of Vulcan

Boucher's Venus in the Workshop of Vulcan from 1757 revisits the subject of Venus soliciting armor from her husband — a theme he had first treated in 1732 — with the greater opulence and technical command of his mature period. By 1757, Boucher was Premier Peintre du Roi and at the summit of his influence, working for Madame de Pompadour and the royal decorative programs at Versailles and Fontainebleau. The forge of Vulcan, with its forge-fire and muscular Cyclops assistants, gave Boucher dramatic contrasts of light and shadow to set against Venus's ideal feminine beauty.

Boucher now handles the contrast of forge-fire illumination and outdoor daylight with greater atmospheric confidence than in his earlier version. Venus's pearlescent flesh against the dark, sooty forge interior creates the painting's central visual drama, elaborated with his characteristic decorative inventiveness.