Venus asks Vulcan to forge an armor for Aeneas 1757

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo made this pen and wash drawing, “Venus asks Vulcan to forge an armor for Aeneas,” in the 18th century. Tiepolo was working in Venice at a time when the city’s cultural institutions were in decline, but his art suggests a nostalgia for its glory days. He gives us Venus in Vulcan’s forge, the great goddess of love commissioning armor from the god of fire for her son Aeneas, who will go on to found Rome. Tiepolo references the story of the Aeneid at a time when Venice saw itself as the new Rome. He links Venice to a tradition of power and empire, as well as the cultural legacy of the Renaissance. To fully appreciate Tiepolo’s themes, historians look at the social and political context in which art is produced. We might look into how the patrons of the Venetian Rococo style understood their relationship to the classical world. When we examine art in context, we find that it always reflects its own time.