DONNER, Georg Raphael
(b. 1693, Esslingen, d. 1741, Vienna)

Venus in Vulcan's Workshop

1730s
Lead, 63 x 93 cm
Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest

This dignified relief, treated on pictorial lines, was made by Donner between 1730 and 1740. The high relief of the figures leads by gradual and subtle transition to the comparatively low relief details of the background. The light and colour of the lead make these fine transitions of form still more soft and subtle. The Goddess of Love, whose slender, graceful form is half covered by a veil, stands in the more prominent section on the right. Her husband, the giant figure of Vulcan, the forger of weapons, turns from his work towards her. The distribution of mass and the rhythmic harmony of the two groups produce a well-balanced composition.