Annotations
Vulcan and three assistants forge a shield for Aeneas on an anvil; more laborers are busy with other work; in the right foreground a variety of Putti are preparing drinks.
Vulkan schmiedet mit drei Gehilfen auf einem Amboss den Schild für Aeneas; weitere Gehilfen sind mit anderen Arbeiten beschäftigt; im Vordergrund rechts ist eine Vielzahl von Putti dabei, Getränke vorzubereiten. (Suerbaum)
Engraving from a German children’s picture-book version of the Aeneid by G. J. Lang and G. C. Eimmart, “A tapestry of Roman virtues as seen in Vergil’s Aeneas and his brave deeds, rendered in sparkling engravings, as illustrations of the remarkable deeds of antiquity, for the common benefit of noble youth,” (Peplus virtutum Romanarum in Aenea Virgiliano eiusque rebus fortiter gestis, ad maiorem antiquitatis et rerum lucem, communi iuventutis sacratae bono, aere renitens) (Nuremburg: J.L. Buggel, 1688), pl. 37.
Vulcan and his workers are in the process of creating the famous shield of Aeneas. It is described as seven layered and strong enough to stand against all the weapons of Latium, “unum omni a contra/ tells Latinorum” (447-8). The forge in the engraving extends in the background into gloomy caves, showing that the setting is deep below Mount Etna. (Lucy McInerney)