Vulcan, Venus and Mars

The story is told in Homer's Odyssey. Vulcan, the lame blacksmith of the gods, learns that his wife Venus is sleeping with Mars. He forges a net of chains too fine to see, traps the lovers in bed and calls the other gods in to look, and in Homer the gods on Olympus roar with laughter. Heemskerck, working in Haarlem around 1540, gave the tale a moral. On the back of this panel he painted two women in grey monochrome, Prudence and Justice, the one urging caution and the other hinting at punishment for adultery. Under them runs a verse in Dutch from the Book of Proverbs, chapter 11, a false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is his delight.