Polidoro achieved particular virtuosity in the imitation of reliefs in fairly small easel compositions such as Venus in Vulcan’s Forge. We can only imagine how this expressive grisaille brush drawing would have looked in a niche made specially for it and by the light of a candle, producing the illusion of a three-dimensional surface. Polidoro Caldara (as he was also known) produced similar works in Naples and on Sicily, where he moved after the sack of Rome in 1527.
School:
Title:
Venus at the Forge of Vulcan
Date:
Material:
Technique:
oil
Dimensions:
56x99 cm
Acquisition date:
Entered the Hermitage in 1931; handed over by the Antikvariat All-Union Association; originally in the Princes Argutinsky-Dolgorukov family collection
Inventory Number:
ГЭ-6761
Category:
Collection:
Subcollection: