Venus and Cupid as the Honey Thief

Venus and Cupid as the Honey Thief

Painting on limewood (Tilia sp)

Medium

Painting on limewood (Tilia sp)

[Löcher, Cat. Nuremberg 1997, 156]

Full-length figures standing on a stony ground against a black background. The artist draws on 15th century prototypes for the posture of Venus. She represents coquette erotisicism, which is also expressed by her direct gaze and the transparent veil. Cupid, the God of Love holds a honey comb in his

Full-length figures standing on a stony ground against a black background. The artist draws on 15th century prototypes for the posture of Venus. She represents coquette erotisicism, which is also expressed by her direct gaze and the transparent veil. Cupid, the God of Love holds a honey comb in his hand. He complains to his mother Venus, the Goddess of Beauty and Love, that the bees have stung him. She informs him that his arrows are no less painful. Above a four line inscription.

[Löcher, Cat. Nuremberg 1997, 156]

[Display label, GNM 2010]

Attributions
Lucas Cranach the Elder
Lucas Cranach the Younger

Attributions

Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Löcher, Cat. Nuremberg 1997, 156]
[Lutze und Wiegand, Cat. Nuremberg 1936-37, 40-41][1]

[1][Löcher, Cat. Nuremberg 1997, 157]

Lucas Cranach the Younger

[Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979, No. 398 B][1]
[Koepplin, Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974, No. 572][1]

[1][Löcher, Cat. Nuremberg 1997, 157]

Production dates
after 1537
about 1540-1550

Production dates

after 1537

[Löcher, Cat. Nuremberg 1997, 156]

about 1540-1550

[Koepplin, Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974, No. 572]

[Löcher, Cat. Nuremberg 1997, 157]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 175.4 x 66.3 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 175.4 x 66.3 cm

  • [Löcher, Cat. Nuremberg 1997, 156]

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia at the top beneath the inscription: winged serpent with dropped wings, facing left

Signature / Dating

  • Artist's insignia at the top beneath the inscription: winged serpent with dropped wings, facing left

  • [cda 2011]

Inscriptions and Labels
  • top, four line inscription in roman capitals:
    'DVM PVER ALVEOLO FVRATVR MELLA CVPIDO/FVRANTI DIGITVM CVSPIDE FIXIT APIS /SIC ETIAM …

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

    • top, four line inscription in roman capitals:

  • 'DVM PVER ALVEOLO FVRATVR MELLA CVPIDO/FVRANTI DIGITVM CVSPIDE FIXIT APIS /SIC ETIAM NOBIS BREVIS ET PERITVRA VOLVPTAS/QVAM PETIMVS TRISTI MIXTA DOLORE NOCET'

  • [Löcher, Cat. Nuremberg 1997, 156]

Stamps, Seals, Labels:

  • Reverse of the panel: paper label: BStGS Inv. 1905, Nr. [11]55

  • [Löcher, Cat. Nuremberg 1997, 156]

Owner
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
Repository
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
Location
Nuremberg
CDA ID
DE_GNMN_Gm1097
FR (1978) Nr.
FR398B
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_GNMN_Gm1097/

Provenance

Loan from the BStGS, Inv. No. 4300

  • from Freising Palace, (Steinerner Saal)
  • by 1802/1803 it was already owned by the Bavarian State because of secularisation
  • it was not entered in the inventory of the 'Centralgemäldegalerie' until 1844
    BStGS Inv. 1822, Nr. 8951; 1905, Nr. 1155
  • Schleißheim Palace, Picture Gallery
  • on the 6. Dec. 1920 it was given on permanent loan to the GNM
    [Löcher, Cat. Nuremberg 1997, 156]

According to [Goldberg 1980, 145] the painting may be the same as one recorded in the Fickler inventory from 1598 of the Bavarian Ducal Art Cabinet, Munich (No. 2800, as a 'Depiction of Venus').
[Löcher, Cat. Nuremberg 1997, 157]

Exhibitions

Basel 1974, No. 572

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Cat.Hess, Hirschfelder, Bär 2010 96, 413 Fig. 22
AuthorFrank Bär
EditorDaniel Hess, Dagmar Hirschfelder, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg
TitleRenaissance. Barock. Aufklärung. Kunst und Kultur vom 16. bis zum 18. Jahrhundert
SeriesDie Schausammlungen des Germanischen Nationalmuseums
Volume3
Place of PublicationNuremberg
Year of Publication2010
Show Literature
Hinz 2010 B 45
AuthorBerthold Hinz
TitleAktmalerei bei Cranach. Ein neuer Geschäftszweig
Publicationin Guido Messling, ed., Die Welt des Lucas Cranach. Ein Künstler im Zeitalter von Dürer, Tizian und Metsys, Exhib. Cat. Brussels
Place of PublicationBrussels
Year of Publication2010
Pages42-53
Show Literature
Diemer et al. 2008 827-828 No. 2800
AuthorDorothea Diemer, Peter Diemer, Lorenz Seelig, Brigitte Vork-Knüttel, Peter Volk, Willibald Sauerländer
TitleDie Münchner Kunstkammer
Publicationin Abhandlungen der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften Philosophisch-Historische Klasse 129
Volume2
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication2008
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Nuremberg 2004 217
AuthorBarbara Dienst
EditingManfred Knedlik
TitleFaszination Meisterwerk. Dürer, Rembrandt ,Riemenschneider
Place of PublicationNuremberg
Year of Publication2004
Show Literature
Cat. Nuremberg 1997 156-157
AuthorKurt Löcher
TitleDie Gemälde des 16. Jahrhunderts. Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nürnberg
Place of PublicationOstfildern-Ruit
Year of Publication1997
Show Literature
Goldberg 1983 A 165-169 Figs. 17, 19
AuthorGisela Goldberg
TitleVeränderungen von Bildern der ersten Hälfte des 16. Jahrhunderts. Versuch einer Interpretation
JournalStädel-Jahrbuch
IssueN.F. 9
Year of Publication1983
Pages151-175
Show Literature
Goldberg 1980 145
AuthorGisela Goldberg
TitleZur Ausprägung der Dürer-Renaissance in München
JournalMünchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst
Issue31/3
Year of Publication1980
Pages129-177
Show Literature
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1979 151 No. 398B
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
EditorG. Schwartz
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBasel, Boston, Stuttgart
Year of Publication1979
Show Literature
Strieder 1975 170
AuthorPeter Strieder
TitleLucas-Cranach-Ausstellung in Basel (Ausst. Besprechung)
JournalKunstchronik
IssueJg. 28, Heft 5
Year of Publication1975
Pages165-171
Show Literature
Exhib. Cat. Basel 1974/1976 572
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
Cat. Nuremberg 1936/1937 40-41 Fig. 371
AuthorEberhard Lutze, Eberhard Wiegand
TitleKataloge des Germanischen Nationalmuseums zu Nürnberg. Die Gemälde des 13.-16. Jahrhunderts
Place of PublicationLeipzig
Year of Publication1937
Show Literature
Friedländer, Rosenberg 1932 321b
AuthorMax J. Friedländer, Jakob Rosenberg
TitleDie Gemälde von Lucas Cranach
Place of PublicationBerlin
Year of Publication1932
Link http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/friedlaender1932
Show Literature
Cat. Schleissheim 1905 50 No. 197
Authorn. a.
TitleKatalog der Gemälde-Galerie im Königlichen Schlosse zu Schleißheim
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication1905
Show Literature
Reber 1892 143
AuthorFranz von Reber
TitleDie Gemälde der herzoglich bayerischen Kunstkammer nach dem Fickler'schen Inventar von 1598 (Vortrag vom 5. März 1892)
Publicationin Sitzungsberichte der philosophisch-philologischen und der historischen Classe der k. b. Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication1892
Pages137-168
Show Literature
Cat. Schleissheim 1885 No. 203
AuthorAdolf Bayersdorfer
TitleVerzeichnis der in Königlichen Galerie zu Schleißheim ausgestellten Gemälde
Place of PublicationMunich
Year of Publication1885
Show Literature
Cat. Schleissheim 1875 No. 181
Authorn. a.
TitleGemälde-Verzeichnis der Königlichen Bayerischen Staats-Galerie in Schleissheim
Year of Publication1875
Show Literature
  • Venus and Cupid as the Honey Thief, after 1537

Images

Compare images
  • overall
  • overall
  • overall
  • overall
  • irr
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail

Technical studies

09. 2010Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Infrared reflectography
  • irr

Underdrawing

DESCRIPTION

Tools/Materials:

- dry/fluid medium, dark chalk possibly in combination with a brush

Type/Ductus:

- underdrawing barely visible

- occasional delicate, fine lines

Function:

- binding for the final painted version; the lines delineate contours and generally describe the essential details of the face and hands; no representation of volume

Deviations:

- minor alterations made during the painting process

INTERPRETATION

Attribution:

- not possible

[Smith, Sandner, Heydenreich, cda 2012]

  • photographed by Gunnar Heydenreich
  • photographed by Ingo Sandner

1997Technical examination / Scientific analysis

  • Identification of wood species / Dendrochronology
  • Infrared reflectography

Support

- limewood (Tilia sp)

- 3 boards

- widths from the top: left 27.4, 23.2, 15.7 cm, bottom: 19.2, 24.5, 22.6 cm

- thinned, 0.7 cm thick

- the knots were left in the wood

- the painted side has been covered with an application of tow

- there is a minimum amount of old wood worm damage

- original size

Ground and Imprimatura

- a ground was applied to the panel and it was painted before it was framed

Underdrawing

- executed with a brush

- the contours and main lines within the forms are indicated

- a few looped lines now visible in the palm of the hands and the thighs were probably originally intended to indicate veins and are not caused by paint that has become more transparent over time

[Bartl, Cat. Nuremberg 1997, 156]

Condition Reports

Date1997

Support:

  • thinned, 0.7 cm thick

  • drying shrinkage has caused one of the knots to fall out

  • there is a minimum amount of old wood worm damage

  • the bottom left corner and the bottom edge have been damaged, the losses have been partially filled with a fill material

Reverse:

  • cradled

  • stained brown

Painted surface:

  • remains of overpaint from the 17th century. Identified under the microscope

  • extensive abrasion and retouching in the flesh paint and the background

  • the white veil of Venus has been partially reconstructed. Abrasion and whitish blooming in the flesh paint of the upper part of the body has obscured it

  • the background directly around Venus has been overpainted

[Bartl, Cat. Nuremberg 1997, 156]

Conservation History

Date1878 - 1914

Restoration: between 1878 and 1914 (BStGS, R.P. No. 4300)

  • the baroque overpaint was removed

[Bartl, Cat. Nuremberg 1997, 156]

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Venus and Cupid as the Honey Thief', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_GNMN_Gm1097/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Venus and Cupid as the Honey Thief', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/DE_GNMN_Gm1097/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

Help us to improve the Cranach Digital Archive.

Please contact us, if you have noticed a mistake.