Vulcan Surprising Venus and Mars in Bed before an Assembly of the Gods

1679 · Private collection

mythological

The scene represented in this painting is described both in the Odyssey (VIII: 166-365) and in Ovid's Metamorphoses (IV: 171-189). The god Helios, spying Venus and Mars secretly in bed together, informed the god Vulcan of his wife's faithlessness. In order to catch the lovers in an act of infidelity, Vulcan forged a net of bronze so fine that it was invisible to the naked eye.

Vulcan Surprising Venus and Mars in Bed before an Assembly of the Gods

About the Artist

Johann Heiss

1640 – 1704

German painter and draughtsman. He was apprenticed first to Johann Friedrich Sichelbein (c. 1625-90), then in Augsburg to Johann Heinrich Schönfeld, whose style fundamentally determined his own. He was also influenced by Joseph Werner and French Baroque painters, and the knowledge of Italian landscape and architecture evident in his pictures suggests an Italian journey or the influence of an artist recently returned from Italy.

View all works →