Vulcan Building a Fence Around the Mount of Venus 1471 - 1500

Giovanni Bellini rendered "Vulcan Building a Fence Around the Mount of Venus" with pen and brown ink in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. While seemingly a traditional drawing medium, ink allowed Bellini to achieve incredibly fine, detailed lines, vital for depicting the scene's complexity. The drawing depicts Vulcan, the blacksmith god, hard at work constructing a woven fence, an unusual task for him. This is no ordinary fence; it is a barrier around the Mount of Venus, a symbolic attempt to contain desire, to secure love within boundaries, the fence a testament to the labor involved in controlling natural forces. The very act of drawing with ink and pen mimics the methodical, careful construction of the fence itself, each line meticulously placed. Bellini bridges the classical world with his own, suggesting that even mythological figures are subject to the everyday constraints of labor and social order. He emphasizes the importance of making visible the invisible work that goes into maintaining the structures of society.