Venus with Cupid stealing honey

Venus with Cupid stealing honey

Title

Venus with Cupid stealing honey

[Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, No. 247]

Painting on wood

Medium

Painting on wood

[Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, no. 247]

Painting on limewood

[lootedart poland; accessed 12.02.2024]

Painting on beech

[Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974-1976, 657, no. 571]

The nude Goddess Venus presents herself to the viewer against a landscape. A transparent veil emphasizes her nakedness rather than concealing it. Her weight is supported on her right leg. Turned slightly to one side she pays attention to the little Cupid on her left, she point at him with

The nude Goddess Venus presents herself to the viewer against a landscape. A transparent veil emphasizes her nakedness rather than concealing it. Her weight is supported on her right leg. Turned slightly to one side she pays attention to the little Cupid on her left, she point at him with one finger. Cupid still holds the honeycomb in his right hand and with the left hand he attempts to defend himself against the attacking bees. Seeking assistance he looks at his mother. [Görres, cda 2016]

Attributions
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Hans Cranach

Attributions

Lucas Cranach the Elder

[lootedart poland; accessed 12.02.2024]; [Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, no. 247]

Hans Cranach

or Lucas Cranach the Elder? [Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976, 657, no. 571]

Production dates
about 1530
about 1535

Production dates

about 1530

[Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, no. 247]

about 1532 - 1534

[Drecka 1954, 21]

about 1535

[Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976, 657, no. 571]

about 1532 - 1554

[lootedart poland; accessed 12.02.2024]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 40 x 26 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 40 x 26 cm

  • [Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, no. 247]

  • Diimensions of support: 37.5 x 23.5 cm

  • [Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976, 657, no. 571]

  • Dimensions of support: 50 x 34 cm

  • [lootedart poland; accessed 12.02.2024]

Signature / Dating

None

Inscriptions and Labels
  • top left: 'DVM PVER ALVEOLO FVRATVR MELLA CVPIDO
    FVRANTI DIGITVM CVSPIDE FIXIT APIS
    SIC ETIAM NOBIS BREVIS ET PERITVRA …

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

    • top left:

  • 'DVM PVER ALVEOLO FVRATVR MELLA CVPIDO

  • FVRANTI DIGITVM CVSPIDE FIXIT APIS

  • SIC ETIAM NOBIS BREVIS ET PERITVRA VOLVPTAS

  • QVAM PETIMVS.TRISTI MIXTA DOLORE NOCET'

  • [cda 2016]

Owner
Private Collection
Repository
Private Collection
CDA ID
PRIVATE_NONE-P124
FR (1978) Nr.
FR247
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P124/

Provenance

  • 1932 Warsaw Branitzsky (spelling mistake, correct name: Branicki) [1]
  • 1963 New York, Dr. Frederick Mont
    [Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, no. 247]
  • in 1939/40 stolen/lost in Warsaw [1]
  • in the Schäfer collection, Schweinfurt
    [Letter from D. Koepplin to M. Monkiewicz, 13.07.2002, Koepplin Archive]
  • sold at Neumeister, Munich, 12.03.1986, lot 852
    [Photocopy of a page from the auction catalogue; Koepplin Archive]
  • recorded as stolen or lost on the Polish cultural heritage site (owner: Adam Branicki)
    [lootedart poland; accessed 12.02.2024]

[1] [letter from M. Monkiewicz, National Museum in Warsaw to D. Koepplin; 24.05.2002]

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Kuhnke 2011 18, 19
AuthorMonika Kuhnke
TitleDziela sztuki w dawnej ambasadzie angielskiej w Warszawie
JournalCenne, bezcenne, utracone
Issue2/67
Year of Publication2011
Link https://issuu.com/nimoz/docs/2011_2
Pages16-19
Show Literature
Romanowska-Zadrozna 2000 133
AuthorMaria Romanowska-Zadrozna, Tadeusz Zadrozny
TitleWartime Losses – Foreign Paintings – Oil paintings, pastels, watercolours, lost between 1939 and 1945 within the post-1945 borders of Poland excluding the western and northern territories
VolumeVol. 1
Place of PublicationPoznań
Year of Publication2000
Show Literature
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 120 247 247
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
EditorG. Schwartz
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBasel, Boston, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1979
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976 657 571
AuthorDieter Koepplin, Tilman Falk
TitleLukas Cranach. Gemälde, Zeichnungen und Druckgraphik
Volume1, 2
Place of PublicationBasel, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1974
Link http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-diglit-104522
Show Literature
Michalkowa 1972 87 Fig. 2
AuthorJanina Michalkowa
TitleAutour de l'amour à propos de deux tableaux au Musée national de Varsovie
JournalBulletin du Musée National de Varsovie
Issue13
Year of Publication1972
Link https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18820.15
Pages85-93
Show Literature
Drecka 1954 21 Fig. 11
AuthorWanda Drecka
TitlePolskie Cranachiana
JournalBiuletyn Historii Sztuki
Issue16/1
Year of Publication1954
Link http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/bhs1954/0025/image
Pages15-39
Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

There are numerous discrepancies in the literature regarding the size and provenance of this painting, however the depiction of Venus and Cupid, no. 247 in Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, is without question the painting, measuring 50 x 34 cm on the website [lootedart poland; accessed 21.02.2024].

D. Koepplin wrote to the National Museum in Warsaw on the 13.07.2002, explaining that the ‘Branicki Venus’, 37.5 x 23.5 cm, was not listed in Friedländer, Rosenberg 1932/79, but had been shown at the Basel Cranach exhibition (no. 571] in 1974. At that time it belonged to Georg Schäfer, Schweinfurt. In March 1986 he sold the painting at Neumeister's auction house, Munich (auction 232, lot 852). Although the painting is not reproduced in the Basel catalogue, reference is made to an illustration in [Mikhalkova 1972]. The same illustration can be found in Friedländer/Rosenberg 1979, in the Neumeister auction catalogue and on the lootedart website. In fact, the painting is not listed in Friedländer, Rosenberg 1932 and D. Koepplin was perhaps not aware that it had since been added to the 1979 edition.

[cda 2024]

  • Venus with Cupid stealing honey, about 1530

Images

Compare images
  • overall

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Venus with Cupid stealing honey', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P124/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Venus with Cupid stealing honey', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P124/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

Help us to improve the Cranach Digital Archive.

Please contact us, if you have noticed a mistake.