Vulcan Presenting Arms to Venus for Aeneas

1756

In Virgil’s epic Aeneid, Venus seduces Vulcan and persuades him to forge weapons for her son Aeneas. Boucher’s painting shows Vulcan offering the goddess a sword; at his feet are two putti playing with a plumed helmet, and behind him are a shield and armor. This work was a preliminary sketch for a tapestry design—one of a set commissioned from four different artists by the marquis de Marigny, an influential arts administrator under King Louis XV.

Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	16 1/4 x 17 13/16 in. (41.2 x 45.3 cm) Frame: 22 x 23 1/2 x 2 1/4 in. (55.9 x 59.7 x 5.7 cm)
Object Number	1983.29
Acquisition	Acquired by the Clark, 1983
Status	On View

Image Caption

François Boucher, Vulcan Presenting Arms to Venus for Aeneas, 1756, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, Acquired by the Clark, 1983.29

Select Bibliography

Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Mass.. Masterpieces by François Boucher from New England Museums. April 15-June 3, 1984.. 1984.. Stair Sainty Fine Art, New York. Les Premiers Peintres du Roi: French Royal Taste from 1664 to 1792. Oct. 16-Nov. 22, 1985. [Exh. also at New Orleans Museum of Art, Columbus Museum of Art, our painting not lent).. 1985.. Ananoff, Alexandre. François Boucher, 1703–1770. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1986. Lovett, Jennifer Gordon. A Glimpse of Rococo France: The Amorous Proposal by François Le Moyne. Exhibition brochure. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1987. Memphis: Dixon Gallery and Gardens.. Louis XV & Madame de Pompadour: A Love Affair with Style. March 11-April 15, 1990; Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York, May 3-June 15, 1990. (Cat. by Penelope Hunter-Stiebel). Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984. Valentin Tatransky.. "New York Letter.". vol. 27, no. 2. Art International.. (April-June 1984).:pp. 59-66.. Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992. Iris Owens.. "The Boucher Dream: How an Artist Armed a King's Mistress for the Battle of the Boudoir.". Art & Antiques.. April 1986.:pp. 76-80, 878.. Kern, Steven, et al. The Clark: Selections from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1996. Held, Julius S. "Old Masters in the Clark Collection, Part I: Paintings." The Magazine Antiques 62, no. 4 (October 1997): 504–9.

Provenance

Abel François Poisson, marquis de Ménars et de Marigny (1727-1781), Château de Ménars, Paris (his sale, Basan & Joullain, Paris, 22 March 1782, no. 24, sold to Remy); [Pierre Remy (1715-1797), Paris]; Nicolas Beaujon (1718-1786), Paris (his sale, Remy & Julliot, Paris, 25 April 1787, no. 203, sold to Saubert); [Louis-Francois Saubert (d.1792), Paris]; [Dr. Schaeffer, Berlin, by 1927]; private collection, US; [Newhouse Galleries, New York, sold to Clark Art Institute, 1983]; Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1983.