Cupid complaining to Venus
Lucas Cranach the Elder1526-7
The National Gallery, London
London, United Kingdom
Cupid, the god of erotic love, is complaining to his mother, Venus, the goddess of love: he has been stung by bees after stealing a honeycomb. Venus directs her attention towards the viewer instead. Her narrowed gaze appears flirtatious and she clutches the branch of an apple tree, evocative of the biblical temptress Eve.
This is a morality tale, based on a Greek poem from the third century BC – though Venus wears a velvet hat and jewelled choker in the style of those worn at the Saxon court where Cranach worked from 1505. The poem describes how life’s pleasures are mixed with pain, as the inscription at the top of the painting observes. Venus explains to her son that the wounds of love he inflicts with his arrows are far worse than any physical pain he may be experiencing.
Text: © The National Gallery, London
- Title: Cupid complaining to Venus
- Creator: Lucas Cranach the Elder
- Date Created: 1526-7
- Physical Dimensions: 81.3 x 54.6 cm
- Medium: Oil on wood
- School: German
- More Info: Explore the National Gallery’s paintings online
- Inventory number: NG6344
- Artist Dates: 1472 - 1553
- Artist Biography: Cranach was one of the leading German painters and printmakers of the early 16th century. As court painter of the Elector of Saxony, the patron of Luther, Cranach is remembered as the chief artist of the Reformation. He painted altarpieces, Lutheran subject pictures and portraits, as well as mythological decorative works and nudes, such as the 'Cupid complaining to Venus' in the Collection. Cranach was named after his native town of Kronach in Upper Franconia. He was probably trained there by his father, Hans. Around 1500 or earlier he travelled through Bavaria to Vienna, where he was briefly active. Early works exemplify the Danube school (see also Altdorfer) in their poetic use of landscape. In 1505 he entered the service of the Electors of Saxony at Wittenberg, becoming a town councillor there in 1519 and burgomaster in 1537 and 1540. In 1550 he was with the Elector John Frederick who was held prisoner in Augsburg. He retired in 1552 to Weimar, leaving his sons, Hans and Lucas the Younger, to carry on his workshop.
- Acquisition Credit: Bought, 1963
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