In "Mars and Venus surprised by Vulcan" (RCIN 1858), Mars and Venus are discovered together beside a colonnade. Mars later transforms him into a cockerel so that he might never neglect to herald the arrival of the sun. Instead, he falls asleep, and the lovers are found out by Apollo, the sun god.
"Mars, Alectryon and Cupid" (RCIN 1861) depicts Mars instructing Alectryon, who is to stand guard outside while Mars visits Venus and warn them of anyone approaching. The current set was woven between September 1620 and June 1622 for Charles I when Prince of Wales in 1886-7 Morris & Co used them to decorate a room at St James's Palace, where they now line the walls. The designs might have been adapted from 16th-century tapestries on the same subject in the collection of Henry VIII, as suggested by W. Vulcan, the blacksmith of the gods (depicted in the tapestry RCIN 1859 at his forge), is alerted to the affair between his wife – Venus – and Mars, the god of war. The Story of Vulcan and Venus is one of the classical narratives derived from Greek mythology. Framed tapestry fragment showing head of a satyr (removed from larger tapestry).
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