Aeneas Receiving a New Set of Armour from Venus 1669

Ferdinand Bol painted this scene from classical mythology using oil on canvas. The eye is immediately drawn to Venus, reclining on her throne, but let’s take a look at the other side of the composition. We see Vulcan and his cyclopean assistants, hammering away in their forge. The making of armor was hot, dangerous work, requiring the coordination of many hands. Bol surely knew this, and plays on it by emphasizing the bare skin of the laborers, in stark contrast to the soft flesh of Venus. The painting itself is also the product of labor, of course. Bol apprenticed with Rembrandt, and you can see that influence in the bravura brushwork and dramatic lighting. It would have taken skill to render the textures of skin, metal, and smoke so convincingly. In the end, the painting invites us to contemplate the unequal distribution of labor and its rewards.