The Forge of Vulcan

When the Paris Salon opened in 1747, the printed booklet described this picture in a single line, an oval of the forges of Vulcan, intended for the king's bedroom at Marly. Marly was Louis XV's smaller château near Versailles, kept for short stays with a few chosen guests. The order came from the director of the king's buildings, Le Normant de Tournehem, at a price of 800 livres. Boucher shows Venus come down to the smithy of her husband Vulcan, where arms are being forged.

A second canvas was painted as its companion, Venus presenting Aeneas to the gods, and the pair may first have been meant for the new apartment of the Dauphin, the king's son, at Versailles before they were sent to Marly. Boucher received the last payment for both in February 1748. The companion now hangs in the museum of the Marly estate at Louveciennes, close to where the château stood.