Auguste Rodin is considered one of the titans of modern figurative sculpture and his work had an enormous impact on future generations of artists. Rodin was deeply inspired by sculptural tradition and history, yet his work departed from the idealized forms of past generations. His most well known works, like The Thinker and The Kiss, departed from classic mythological subject matter, however he still engaged with this tradition as can be seen in this work, Vulcan’s Forge. Vulcan is the Roman god of fire and closely associated with metalwork. Depictions of Vulcan are numerous throughout art history, particularly in sculpture, as the god was seen as a patron of those who worked with molten metals and may have held special meaning to artists working in bronze.