Venus at Vulcan's Forge

The scene depicted is derived from a passage from book 8 of P. Vergilius Maro's Aeneid, where Venus had previously made her plea to her husband of a frayed relationship, “Therefore I come at last with lowly suit before a godhead I adore, and pray for gift of arms,—a mother for her son.” ( Although Venus is often depicted as a weaker deity in terms of fighting ability, this scene and artwork demonstrate her prowess being a facet of her existence as the goddess of love and beauty; that she can use those attributes to attain her desired goals. There is a nymph laying across Venus's lap, and she is holding Cupid's dart as a symbolic representation of love that Venus wields in this situation, both of a romantic and maternal nature.