The Forge of Vulcan (Vasari)

Influenced by the Medici court under Cosimo I and Francesco I, its themes and composition are similar to panels from the studiolo of the Palazzo Vecchio.

Like them it derives from a letter to Vasari by Vincenzo Borghini, in which the writer recommended he paint not just a forge but also "an Academy of certain virtues" led by Minerva.

[2] The technique and the small format combine to create an exquisitely crafted work, rich in characters and details.

The underground forge of the god Vulcan (here a personification of ingenuity), represented as a swarm of naked workers in motion, is the backdrop to a meeting between the goddess Minerva, who has come to bring a drawing to be reproduced, and the god Vulcan himself, intent on chiseling a precious shield held up by playful cherubs.

On the left, a group of four naked artists, watched over by a statue of the Three Graces (modelled on the example of the Sienese ones in the Libreria Piccolomini) receives illumination from the flames of the chandelier to arrive at the supreme act of creation, which made art a noble and intellectual practice, as theorized by Vasari himself in his treatises.