The beautiful Venus was oddly matched to the lame blacksmith Vulcan (the Greek Hephaistos), a virtuosic metalworker who forged Cupid's potent arrows as well as the elaborate armor of the gods and heroes. When the smith learned of his wife's long-running affair with Mars (the Greek Ares), he retaliated by fashioning a net of iron so fine that it could not be seen and laying it over a bed to trap the lovers in a subsequent embrace. This print seems to depict Vulcan crafting the invisible links, while Venus and Mars carry on, oblivious to his presence.

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