Venus in Vulcan's Forge

The composition of this painting is based on a painting of the same subject by Jan Breughel I, datable to c. 1611, now in the Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome (K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel der Ältere, Cologne, 1979, pp. 599-900, no. 251, pl. 442). Numerous versions of this composition exist, including a panel by Jan Breughel II, with figures by Hendrik van Balen I in a private collection (see K. Ertz, Jan Brueghel the Younger, Freren, 1984, pp. 362-3, no. 197). The present composition relates most closely to the painting of the same subject from the set of the Four Elements at Kingston Lacy, Dorset (A. Laing, In Trust for the Nation, exhibition catalogue, London, Royal Academy, 1995, no. 60), but omits the view into the distance on the right side.