Cupid complaining to Venus

Cupid complaining to Venus

Title

Cupid complaining to Venus

[The National Gallery, revised 2011]

Painting on wood, transferred on to a new support (masonite board with mahogany veneer)

Medium

Painting on wood, transferred on to a new support (masonite board with mahogany veneer)

[The National Gallery, revised 2016]

Venus and Cupid are shown against a lavish and beautiful landscape background. On the left is a forest with a stag and a hind. On the right is a distant landscape with a castle on a high crag overlooking water, in which other buildings are reflected. Between Venus and Cupid

Venus and Cupid are shown against a lavish and beautiful landscape background. On the left is a forest with a stag and a hind. On the right is a distant landscape with a castle on a high crag overlooking water, in which other buildings are reflected. Between Venus and Cupid is an apple tree hung with fruit. Cupid holds a honeycomb and bees, which appear to have flown out of a large hole in the base of the tree trunk, crawl over him. Venus holds a branch of the tree with her left hand, and raises her left foot over a lower branch. She is naked except for her two necklaces, a thick golden chain and a bejewelled choker, and a large hat, a confection of coloured ostrich plumes on red velvet worn over a cloth of gold cap which conceals her hair. A Latin inscription is placed top right, directly over the blue of the sky. This is the most elaborate of a number of versions of this subject painted by Cranach and his workshop (see Versions). No two are exactly alike, but the inscription here is generally to be found in the same form in all.

[Susan Foister, 'Lucas Cranach the Elder, Cupid complaining to Venus' published online 2015, from 'The German Paintings before 1800', London: forthcoming.

www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/lucas-cranach-the-elder-cupid-complaining-to-venus]

Attribution
Lucas Cranach the Elder

Attribution

Lucas Cranach the Elder

[The National Gallery, revised 2011]
[Exhib. Cat. Hamburg 2003, No. 62]

Production dates
about 1525
about 1530

Production dates

about 1525

[The National Gallery, revised 2011]

about 1530

[Exhib. Cat. Hamburg 2003, No. 62]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 82.1 x 55.8 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 82.1 x 55.8 cm

  • [The National Gallery, revised 2011]

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia at the bottom centre, on a stone: winged serpent with elevated wings, facing left; in black paint

Signature / Dating

  • Artist's insignia at the bottom centre, on a stone: winged serpent with elevated wings, facing left; in black paint

Inscriptions and Labels
  • top right: 'DVM PVER ALVEO[LO] F[VRATUR ME]LLA CUPIDO/ FURANTI DIGITVM CV[SPIDE] F[IXIT] APIS/ SIC ETIAM …

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

    • top right:
  • 'DVM PVER ALVEO[LO] F[VRATUR ME]LLA CUPIDO/ FURANTI DIGITVM CV[SPIDE] F[IXIT] APIS/ SIC ETIAM NOBIS BREVIS ET [PERI]TVRA VOLUPTAS/ QUAM PETIMUS TRI[S]T[I] [M]IXTA DOLORE N[O]CET' (Young Cupid was stealing honey from a hive when a bee stung the thief on the finger. So it is for us: the brief and fleeting pleasure we seek/ is mingled with sadness and brings us pain).

  • [Susan Foister, `Lucas Cranach the Elder, Cupid complaining to Venus' published online 2015, from 'The German Paintings before 1800', London: forthcoming.

  • www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/lucas-cranach-the-elder-cupid-complaining-to-venus]

Owner
The National Gallery, London
Repository
The National Gallery, London
Location
London
CDA ID
UK_NGL_6344
FR (1978) Nr.
FR246L
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/UK_NGL_6344/

Provenance

  • the picture is first recorded in the sale of the collection of Emil Goldschmidt (1848-1909), Frankfurt, at Rudolph Lepke, Berlin, on 27 April 1909 (48), clearly identified through the photograph in the sale catalogue.[1]
  • the purchaser at the 1909 sale was an art dealer who has not been identified.[2]
  • this may be the painting by Lucas Cranach of 'Venus und Amor als Honigdieb', of similar but not identical dimensions, that was recorded as being sold by the widow of the Chemnitz businessman Hans Hermann Vogel (1867-after 1931) through Heinemann in Munich on 12 September 1935 to 'Allmer, Berlin'. The latter can possibly be identified as Robert Allmers (1872-1951), president of the German Automobile Industry Association.[3]
  • it was acquired by Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) at an unknown date and is recorded in a photograph in an album that includes works from his private collection displayed at the Berghof, Berchtesgarten, Obersalzberg.[4]
    Hitler was said in 1947 to have had a painting by Cranach of `Venus and Amor' in the flat in Munich in which he lived from 1929 onwards.[5] The painting may have been the work acquired by him in or before 1937, when he is said to have owned a recently acquired but unspecified work by Cranach.[6] It may be the painting by Cranach that he is said to have acquired with royalties from the sales of 'Mein Kampf'.[7]
  • the painting was owned from 1945 by Mrs Patricia Lochridge Hartwell (1916-1998), an American war correspondent who was permitted to select it from a warehouse controlled by American forces in southern Germany in 1945.[8]
  • Mrs Hartwell sold it in 1963 through E. & A. Silberman, New York
  • according to Silberman it was sold `by family descendents' of the purchasers at the 1909 sale (see above).[9]
  • it was bought by the National Gallery from Silberman in 1963.

[1]The painting was no. 48 (p. 26) in the catalogue of the sale through Rudolph Lepke, Berlin, of the Sammlung aus dem Nachlass Emil Goldschmidt, Frankfurt am Main, Tuesday 27 April 1909. The Venus und Amor' by Lucas Cranach was described as Im Vordergrunde einer Landschaft mit waldigem Dickicht Venus in prächtigem altdeutschen Federhut unter einem fruchtbeladenen Apfelbaum Amor, der eine Honigwabe entwendet hat, beklagt sich bei seiner göttlichen Mutter über die Stiche der Bienen. Im Walde Hirsch und Hirschkuh, rechts im Hintergrunde Wasser mit Felsinsel. Auf Holz. Rechts oben vierzeiliger, auf die Darstellung bezüglicher lateinischer Vers. Auf einem Stein unten der Cranach Drache. H.82cm. B.55 cm. G.-R. (Abbildung auf Taf. 4.) (http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/lepke1909_04_27/0032). According to the sale catalogue (p. 3), Emil Goldschmidt (b. 1848) had recently died at a relatively young age, soon after his father Salamon Benedikt Goldschmidt of Frankfurt (1818-1906) (whose art collection had been sold in Vienna on 11 March 1907), and had amassed a substantial collection of old master paintings. Most of his paintings had been obtained in Holland (the collection included a large number of Dutch paintings) and in Vienna. On p. 4 is noted Ein Meisterstück aus Cranachs mittlerer Zeit (von 1525 etwa) ist die graziös bewegte Venus (Nr. 48)'. [2] In the record of the sale in Blätter fur Gemaldekunde (1909), p. 74, it is recorded that the painting was sold for 13,000 Marks and that the buyer was an art dealer (Kh); I am grateful to Nancy Yeide for this reference. [3]Panel, 83.0 x 56.5 cm, Heinemann no. 19262, sold by Frau Vogel of Chemnitz for 20,000 Marks; bought by Allmer for 32,000 Marks: http://heinemann.gnm.de/de/kunstwerk-2334.htm. I am grateful to Eyal Dolev for this suggestion. Of known versions, the dimensions of NG 6344 are similar only to the painting then and now at Schwerin, which measures 83.0 x 58.2 cm, and is therefore slightly broader than NG 6344 and the Vogel painting; NG 6344 is slightly smaller than the Vogel painting. [4] Library of Congress, LOT 11373(11). [5]By Heinrich Hoffmann on 3 September 1947. Interrogation of Hoffmann 29 August 1947: Hitler had the following works of art in his apartment in Grillparzerstrasse 8. Cranach 'Venus and Amor'': see NARA RG 260, M1946, Restitution Research Records 1945-50, Roll 0136, Blatt 128 (photo of document kindly supplied by Eyal Dolev). A painting by Cranach listed by the Central Collecting Point as Eva, den Paradiesapfel pflückend' evidently refers to the same work: Venus in NG 6344 is depicted making a similar gesture to Eve in other works by Cranach, see further below and Schwarz 2009, p. 110. [6]Ward Price 1937, p. 20: He recently acquired a Cranach and two Brueghels for his Munich flat' and ibid., p. 27: The principal living room is long and new. The walls are hung with a display of pictures 'In addition to a fifteenth-century Cranach '' . [7] According to Heinrich Hoffmann's memoirs: information kindly supplied by Anne Webber. Although Gauleiter Fritz Sauckel is recorded as having given Hitler a 'naked Venus by Lucas Cranach the Elder' for his fiftieth birthday on 20 April 1939, this was the painting formerly in the Schlossmuseum, Weimar (see Versions, no. 3, below) and not NG 6344. See Bernhard 1965, p. 176: Gauleiter Sauckel schenkte Hitler zu seinem 50. Geburtstag am 20.4.1939, Lucas Cranach d. Ä. 'Nackte Venus aus Weimar''. Gerhard Keiderling noted in Keiderling 2005, p. 38, that Sauckel sought gifts for Hitler and that a Venus in a landscape by Cranach the Elder was supplied by the Weimar museum director Dr Walter Scheidig against a receipt (reference kindly supplied by Eyal Dolev). A Venus and Cupid by Cranach from Weimar, measuring 50.0 x 35.0 cm, was taken by US troops from the repository at Schwarzburg: see Petropolous 1996, pp. 179-80.
[8] Information provided by her son, Professor Jay Hartwell, in 2004. Patricia Lochridge recorded her experience as US commander for a day at Berchtesgaden in I governed Berchtesgaden', Woman's Home Companion, August 1945, pp. 4-5; see also ibid., I'll never forget', September 1945, pp. 4-5. I am grateful to Martin Bailey for this information.
[9]According to Silberman, Gallery correspondence. It is possible that information concerning the previous ownership of the painting was present on the reverse of the panel, which was transferred to the present support in 1963 at the time of the sale: see Gallery correspondence between Michael Levey and Abris Silberman. The painting was offered to the Metropolitan Museum, New York, in 1962 as the property of Mr and Mrs Dickson Hartwell of New York (Mrs Patricia Hartwell then worked for UNICEF): information obtained from correspondence with the Metropolitan Museum in 1999 in Gallery files; copies of 1962 correspondence between the Museum and the Hartwells in Gallery files.
[Susan Foister, 'Lucas Cranach the Elder, Cupid complaining to Venus' published online 2015, from 'The German Paintings before 1800', London: forthcoming]

The assumption made above that the panel was in Adolf Hitler's private apartment has been confirmed by Schwarz 2023, p. 576.
[Daniel Görres, cda 2024]

Exhibitions

London 1975, No. 172
London 1980
London 1983-4
London 1987, No. 12
London 1997
Hamburg 2003, No. 62
London 2007, No. 2
Bristol, Newcastle, London 2008

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Schwarz 2023 576
AuthorBirgit Schwarz
TitleZu den Gemälden aus Hitlers Münchner Wohnung
Volume76
JournalKunstchronik
Issue76, 12 (December 2023]
Year of Publication2023
Pages574-582
Sandner, Heydenreich, Smith-Contini 2015 132, Fn. 31
AuthorGunnar Heydenreich, Ingo Sandner, Helen Smith-Contini
TitleVeränderungen beim Unterzeichnen in Cranachs Werkstatt und die Arbeitsweise von Sohn Lucas
Publicationin Elke A. Werner, Anne Eusterschulte, Gunnar Heydenreich, eds., Lucas Cranach der Jüngere und die Reformation der Bilder
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2015
Link https://lucascranach.org/application/files/5215/6337/7366/Heydenreich_Sandner_Smith-Contini_2015_-_Unterzeichnung.pdf
Pages128-141
Exhib. Cat. Bristol, Newcastle, London 2008
EditorThe National Gallery, London
TitleLove, National Gallery touring exhibition, [Bristol's City Museum and Art Gallery, 19 January - 6 April 2008; Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, 19 April - 13 July 2008; National Gallery, London, 24 July - 5 October 2008]
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication2008
Exhib. Cat. London 2007 46-61, 80-82 2
EditorCaroline Campbell
TitleTemptation in Eden. Lucas Cranach's Adam and Eve , [London, Courtauld Institute Gallery]
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication2007
Pérez d'Ors 2007
AuthorPablo Pérez d'Ors
TitleA Lutheran Idyll. Lucas Cranach the Elder's Cupid Complaining to Venus
JournalRenaissance Studies
Issue21/1
Year of Publication2007
Pages85-98
Exhib. Cat. London 2005 24, 64-66
AuthorTracy Chevalier, Colin Wiggins
EditorThe National Gallery, London
TitleTom Hunter. Living in Hell and Other Stories, [National Gallery, London, 7 December 2005 - 12 March 2006]
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication2005
Exhib. Cat. Hamburg 2003 69, 179 062 Pl. 62
EditorBucerius Kunst Forum, Werner Schade
TitleLucas Cranach. Glaube, Mythologie und Moderne [Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg]
Place of PublicationOstfildern-Ruit
Year of Publication2003
Foister 2003 120-122, 127 62 Fig. 5, Fig. p. 121 (details)
AuthorSusan Foister
TitleCranachs Mythologien. Quellen und Originalität
Publicationin Heinz Spielmann, Werner Schade, eds., Lucas Cranach. Glaube, Mythologie und Moderne, Exhib. Cat. Hamburg 2003
Place of PublicationOstfildern-Ruit
Year of Publication2003
Pages116-129
Kolind Poulsen 2003 130-133, 140 62 Fig. 6
AuthorHanne Kolind Poulsen
TitleFläche, Blick und Erinnerung. Cranachs Venus und Cupido als Honigdieb im Licht der Bildtheologie Luthers
Publicationin Heinz Spielmann, Werner Schade, eds., Lucas Cranach. Glaube, Mythologie und Moderne, Exhib. Cat. Hamburg 2003
Place of PublicationOstfildern-Ruit
Year of Publication2003
Pages130-143
Exhib. Cat. London 2002 34-36
EditorDavid Bomford, Rachael Billinge
TitleArt in the Making. Underdrawings in Renaissance Paintings
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication2002
Campbell et al. 1997 Fig. p. 29
AuthorLorne Campbell, Susan Foister, Ashok Roy
TitleMethods and materials of Northern European painting in the National Gallery, 1400-1500
JournalNational Gallery Technical Bulletin
Issue18
Year of Publication1997
Pages6-55
Exhib. Cat. London 1997
EditorThe National Gallery, London
TitleCranach. A Closer Look [National Gallery, London, 18.06-07.09.1997]
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication1997
Exhib. Cat. Kronach 1994 348-349
EditorClaus Grimm, Johannes Erichsen, Evamaria Brockhoff
TitleLucas Cranach. Ein Maler-Unternehmer aus Franken [Festung Rosenberg, Kronach 17.05 - 21.08.1994; Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig 07.09 - 06.11.1994]
SeriesVeröffentlichungen zur bayerischen Geschichte und Kultur
Volume26
Place of PublicationAugsburg, Coburg
Year of Publication1994
White, Pilc 1993
AuthorRaymond White, J. Pilc
EditorThe National Gallery, London
TitleAnalyses of Paint Media
JournalNational Gallery Technical Bulletin
Place of PublicationLondon
IssueVol. 14
Year of Publication1993
Pages86-94
Exhib. Cat. London 1987 12
EditorThe National Gallery, London
TitleBodylines. The human figure in art, [Sunley Room, National Gallery, London, 18 March - 17 May 1987]
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication1987
Cat. London 1985 92
AuthorAlistair Smith
TitleThe National Gallery schools of painting. Early Netherlandish and German paintings
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication1985
Leeman 1984 274ff.
AuthorF. W. G. Leeman
TitleA textual source for Cranach's "Venus with Cupid the honey-thief"
JournalBurlington Magazine
Issue126, May
Year of Publication1984
Exhib. Cat. London 1983
EditorThe National Gallery, London
TitleAcquisition in Focus - Albrecht Altdorfer - Christ taking Leave of His Mother, [National Gallery, London, 26 October 1983 - 8 January 1984]
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication1983
Exhib. Cat. London 1980 B
EditorThe National Gallery, London
TitleThe Artist's Eye: R. B. Kitaj, [National Gallery, London, 21 May - 20 July 1980]
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication1980
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 246L
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
EditorG. Schwartz
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBasel, Boston, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1979
Exhib. Cat. London 1975 172
EditorThe National Gallery, London
TitleThe Rival of Nature - Renaissance Painting in its Context, National Gallery, London, 10 June - 28 September, 1975
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication1975
Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976 600, 655-658 500 (u.)
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
NGL 1965 37-38
EditorThe National Gallery, London
TitleThe National Gallery June 1962 - December 1964
Place of PublicationLondon
Year of Publication1965
Bauch 1894 434-435
AuthorGustav Bauch
TitleZur Cranachforschung
JournalRepertorium für Kunstwissenschaft
Issue17
Year of Publication1894
Pages421-435

Research History / Discussion

For more discussion on this painting see:

[Susan Foister, `Lucas Cranach the Elder, Cupid complaining to Venus' published online 2015, from 'The German Paintings before 1800', London: forthcoming.

www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/lucas-cranach-the-elder-cupid-complaining-to-venus]

  • Cupid complaining to Venus, about 1525

Images

Compare images
  • overall
  • overall
  • irr
  • x_radiograph
  • analysis
  • analysis

Technical studies

2016Technical examination / Scientific analysis

Support

The current support is Masonite, which has been veneered and cradled to look like an old panel. The pattern of paint loss visible in a photograph taken after cleaning but before restoration in 1963 suggests that the original support was a panel with vertical grain, and with a vertical join just to the right of Venus’s body, extending through her raised arm and her leg; there was also a split or join to the left of Venus’s head, in the tree.

Ground and Imprimatura

The ground is calcium carbonate (chalk) bound with animal glue. A fine canvas is present beneath the ground but this has been identified as cotton and was presumably added as part of the transfer process.[1] Paint samples taken in 1963 showed that there is a lead white priming on top of the ground.

[1] Scientific report by Joyce Plesters, June 1963, in Conservation dossier

Underdrawing

Nothing that could definitely be identified as black underdrawing could be found with infrared reflectography. Examination of the surface with a microscope, however, revealed lines of red pigment below the uppermost layers of paint. These red lines appear to be performing the role of underdrawing and must lie over the priming. It has not been possible to identify the red material used, but it appears to be in a liquid medium. The lines can only be seen where the paint over them is pale in colour and thinly applied. They have been found in the hat, along several contours of the figures and in the landscape.

Paint Layers and Gilding

Linseed oil was identified by GC analysis of three samples: mid-blue paint from the sky, green from a leaf on the tree and creamy white paint from the clouds. There was no indication of heat-prepolymerisation of the medium.

The blue sky is painted in two layers of azurite mixed with a little lead white, the blue pigment being more finely ground in the lower layer. Cross-sections show that in some places the leaves of the apple tree have a black underpaint; they are modelled with an opaque yellow-green paint consisting of lead-tin yellow and verdigris in the lighter areas, and a darker green of verdigris alone in the shadows. The apples are painted with a mixture of lead white with some red lake and vermilion, glazed with red lake in the rosiest parts; the yellow highlights are of lead-tin yellow. The apples have reserves but many of the leaves are painted over the sky. A cross-section of paint from an apple showed a very thin scattering of carbon black particles over the lead white priming and under the layer of pink: on the painting, under magnification, this can be seen to be a very thin black underpainting, as though a very little paint has been dragged over the surface. There are numerous small pentimenti with the black underpainting for leaves or parts of leaves being painted out with blue sky paint. Similar thin layers of black are present under the small mountain and the grass in the middle distance.

[Susan Foister, ‘Lucas Cranach the Elder, Cupid complaining to Venus' published online 2015, from 'The German Paintings before 1800', London: forthcoming.

www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/lucas-cranach-the-elder-cupid-complaining-to-venus]

02. 2011Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • irr

DESCRIPTION

An underdrawing is not readily visible.Some red linesare visible under the stereomicroscope and may indicate the use of red chalk or a similar red medium for the initial design.

[Sandner, Smith-Contini, Heydenreich, cda 2016]

12. 1992Scientific analysis

  • Micro-sampling / cross-sections
  • Instrumental material analysis

Media analysis:

Linseed oil medium was identified by GC analysis in all three samples; mid-blue paint from the left-hand edge, green paint of leaves and cream-white paint from clouds

Mid-blue paint, LH edge, towards top.

GC analysis would seem to indicate that the paint binder within this sample is composed of linseed oil. There was no suggestion that the oil had been pre-polymerised. No resin was found, within the limits of GC analysis.

[A/P 1.0; P/S 1.9; A/Sub 7.9]

Green paint of leaves, upper LH edge.

Although there was the possibility that this area might contain a browned copper resinate, this seems unlikely as GC analysis gave an indication of the use of linseed oil alone.

[A/P 1.8; P/S 1.9; A/Sub 7.9]

Cream-white paint from clouds in sky, RH edge

Linseed oil was detected as binder by GC analysis. It dad not appear to have undergone heat pre-polymerisation and no addition of natural resin was apparent.

[A/P 1.5; P/S 1.7; A/Sub 7.5]

[National Gallery archive, 2016]

19.03.1963Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • X-radiography
  • x_radiograph
  • created by Silberman Galleries, New York

18.03.1963Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared photography
  • photographed by Silberman Galleries, New York

1963Scientific analysis

  • Micro-sampling / cross-sections

Samples taken and examined by Joyce Plesters June 1963. See full report by Joyce Plesters and her drawings of the cross-sections.

CDA ID/Inventory Number: UK_NGL_6344

Cross-section number:

Paint description: pinkish yellow

Sample location: apple

Sample number: 7

Examination methods: microscopy

Observations:

[National Gallery archive, 2016]

  • analysed by Joyce Plester

1963Scientific analysis

  • Micro-sampling / cross-sections

Samples taken and examined by Joyce Plesters June 1963. See full report by Joyce Plesters and her drawings of the cross-sections.

CDA ID/Inventory Number: UK_NGL_6344

Cross-section number:

Paint description: blue of landscape

Sample location: top right, near top most dappled leaf, right-hand corner.

Sample number: 6

Examination methods: microscopy

Observations:

[National Gallery archive, 2016]

  • analysed by Joyce Plester

1963Scientific analysis

  • Micro-sampling / cross-sections

Samples taken and examined by Joyce Plesters June 1963. See full report by Joyce Plesters and her drawings of the cross-sections.

CDA ID/Inventory Number: UK_NGL_6344

Cross-section number:

Paint description: blackish-green of landscape

Sample location: left-hand side, from slight dent in surface, above stag's antlers.

Sample number: 5

Examination methods: microscopy

Observations:

Comments:

cross-section no longer extant

[National Gallery archive, 2016]

  • analysed by Joyce Plester

1963Scientific analysis

  • Micro-sampling / cross-sections
  • analysis
  • analysis

Samples taken and examined by Joyce Plesters June 1963. See full report by Joyce Plesters and her drawings of the cross-sections.

CDA ID/Inventory Number: UK_NGL_6344

Cross-section number:

Paint description: black of leaves

Sample location: top left-hand corner.

Sample number: 4

Examination methods: no cross-section made of sample

Observations:

[National Gallery archive, 2016]

  • analysed by Joyce Plester

1963Scientific analysis

  • Micro-sampling / cross-sections

Samples taken and examined by Joyce Plesters June 1963. See full report by Joyce Plesters and her drawings of the cross-sections.

CDA ID/Inventory Number: UK_NGL_6344

Cross-section number:

Paint description: brown leaf

Sample location: top right-hand corner, from edge of long streak of damage.

Sample number: 3

Examination methods: microscopy

Observations:

[National Gallery archive, 2016]

  • analysed by Joyce Plester

Condition Reports

Date2016

The paint is in good condition: there are some losses of paint in vertical lines extending inwards from the top and bottom edges, and slightly broader areas of damage around Venus's right ankle and in patches along a vertical line above this, behind her body, across her left arm and above her hat.

The current support is Masonite, which has been veneered and cradled to look like an old panel. [There appears to have been] a split or join to the left of Venus's head, in the tree.

[Susan Foister, 'Lucas Cranach the Elder, Cupid complaining to Venus' published online 2015, from 'The German Paintings before 1800', London: forthcoming.

www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/research/lucas-cranach-the-elder-cupid-complaining-to-venus]

Conservation History

Date07. 1963 - 02. 1964

Varnish and old retouching were removed with a mixture of Methylated Spirit and White Spirit.

Below the newer layers of varnish a layer of older varnish of a golden brown colour was found, mainly in the darker areas of the picture. It was only slightly soluble in the cleaning mixture, whereas the original paint underneath was found to be quite susceptible, and consequently it was not possible to remove it entirely

Retouchings with egg tempera (in the larger losses) glazed with MS2A resin medium; small losses were retouched entirely with the MS2A medium; the only reconstruction of the design was in the right heel of Venus; picture was varnished with MS2A resin containing a small percentage of Stand Oil.

[National Gallery archive, 2013]

  • conservation treatment by J. Hargrave

Date06. 1962

Technical treatment by Thorp Brothers, New York, including complete transferring, mounting on masonite, veneering of back and its cradling, on commission of E. and A. Silberman Galleries, New York[1]

[1] Letter from Abris Silberman to Michael Levey, dated 24 May 1963, in Conservation dossier.

[National Gallery archive 2013]

  • conservation treatment by Thorp Brothers, New York

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
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Entry with no author
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