Venus with Cupid Stealing Honey
Lucas Cranach the Elder
1530
The scene is taken from literature, specifically the poem Cupid Stealing Honey by the classical Greek poet Theocritus.
The poem tells the story of how Cupid complains to his mother, Venus (the goddess of love), of how the bees sting him because he has stolen their hive. He wonders that creatures so small can inflict so much pain. Venus laughs and tells him that their stings can be compared to the wounds that he himself inflicts on all those hit by his arrows. The brief ecstasy of love may soon be replaced by suffering and heartbreak. A sign in the top left corner refers to Theocritus’ poem.
Seen in the light of the fact that Cranach did illustrations for Luther’s version of the Bible and was closely associated with the inner circle of the Reformation, it is interesting that the poem was published in the name of Philipp Melanchton.
SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Copenhagen · Image: SMK – National Gallery of Denmark, Public domain · Text: SMK – National Gallery of Denmark (text: Eva de la Fuente Pedersen) (adapted), CC0