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The subject depicted in the painting is taken from the eighth book of Virgil's Aeneid and it represents the episode in which Vulcan and the three Cyclops (Bronte, Sterope and Piracmone) forge divine weapons for Aeneas, who is close to begin the battle against the Latins. The characters are represented inside the gloomy cavern hosting the forge of Vulcan. Then you can see a Cyclops portrayed from behind, in the center of the composition, imbalancing to the left. He triggers a sort of circular motion that ends on the right side with the figure of Vulcan, who’s recognizable by its senile
appearance and red headdress. On the left, seated in a secluded position, wrapped in shadow and lying on a mattress with soft draperies, we can see the shapely white figure of Venus with her little son Cupid in her lap, in the act of spending the night in the forge, waiting for the manufacture of the weapons to be over. The work seems to capture the moment when Vulcan, addressing the Cyclops, abruptly orders them to interrupt the work they were carrying out, that is the lightning bolts for Jupiter, to immediately begin the forging of weapons for the young Aeneas.
The painting, which is attributed to the artist Alessandro Turchi known as l'Orbetto (The One-Eyed Guy), a prolific Veronese painter, has recently been traced back to another unknown artist close to the painter Bartolomeo Manfredi (Ostiano, 1582 - Rome, 1622), one of the greatest exponents of Caravaggio's painting, because of the strong Caravaggesque suggestions present in his canvas. It is dated around 1630.