This rare and unique plaster from highly respected Modern British sculptor, Eduardo Paolozzi is the original model for his final monumental commission of the same title, which is currently located in Edinburgh where Paolozzi grew up.

At seven metres tall,Vulcan was one of the largest major bronzes Paolozzi made and was originally commissioned for Central Square, Newcastle. It relates to a series of works that go by the same title of which the best-known version was commissioned for the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art’s Dean Gallery.

Vulcan was the Roman god of fire and metalworking.The son of Jupiter and Juno, Vulcan was thrown from Mount Olympus by his mother who was ashamed of his looks. During his fall,Vulcan is said to have broken his leg which never fully recovered making him lame.This could explain why Paolozzi has chosen to depict one foot as being so much larger than the other.

Myth has it that after marrying Venus, the goddess of love and beauty,Vulcan built a smithy under Mount Etna. It is said that whenever Venus is unfaithful, Vulcan grows angry and beats the red-hot metal with such force that sparks and smoke rise up from the top of the mountain, to create a volcanic eruption. He is shown here gripping his hammer with both strength and pride and Paolozzi depicts him as half-man and half-machine - a monument to the modern age. Paolozzi regularly referred to Vulcan (or his Greek counterpart, Hephaestus) in his work perhaps because he sympathised with Vulcan’s predicament. Indeed Paolozzi portrayed himself in this role for a commission for High Holborn, London in 1987, paying tribute and casting himself as the archetypal sculptor.