Venus and Vulcan

An outline-etching after a painting attributed on plate to Giulio Romano then housed in the Coesvelt Gallery. Lettered with production details, and numbered at upper right: no.53. Included in 'Collection of Pictures by W. G. Coesvelt, Esq of London', London 1836, plate 53.

The composition is known through an engraving by Agostino Veneziano (RCIN 951776), which is thought to be based on a design commissioned from Raphael by Giovanni Battiferri, who wished to have it frescoed by Vincenzo da Gimignano on the façade of his house in the Vatican Borgo, Rome.

The composition is also known through a handful of works, including a small painting attributed to the School of Giulio Romano (inv. no.424) and two drawings (inv. nos.3478 and 3657), all of which are housed in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. Other drawings of the same subjects also exist in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (inv. no.D.844-1886), and in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle (RCIN 990303). Although smaller in scale, the latter is thought to have served as the model for the engraving by Agostino Veneziano. Ruland (1876) also lists another drawing of the same subject as being then in the collection of Mr Tiffin, London.