Venus with Cupid the Honey Thief

Venus with Cupid the Honey Thief

Title

Venus with Cupid the Honey Thief

[Cat. New York 2013, 92]

Painting on oak wood

Medium

Painting on oak wood

[Cat. New York 2013, 93]

The painting depicts Venus and Cupid in front of a landscape. Venus is wearing a red wide brimmed hat, a choker, a chain and only has a transparent veil wrapped around her upper left arm and the lower stomach, which she holds with her pointed fingers. The child Cupid wards

The painting depicts Venus and Cupid in front of a landscape. Venus is wearing a red wide brimmed hat, a choker, a chain and only has a transparent veil wrapped around her upper left arm and the lower stomach, which she holds with her pointed fingers. The child Cupid wards off the bees that attempt to sting him after he stole the honeycomb and looks up to Venus seeking help.

[Görres, cda 2016]

Attribution
Copy after Lucas Cranach the Elder

Attribution

Copy after Lucas Cranach the Elder

[Cat. New York 2013, 92]

Production date
after 1607

Production date

after 1607

[Cat. New York 2013, 92]

Dimensions
Dimensions of support: 37.9 x 25.3 cm

Dimensions

  • Dimensions of support: 37.9 x 25.3 cm

  • [Cat. New York 2013, 92]

Signature / Dating

Artist's insignia on the tree trunk: serpent with elevated wings and dated '1530'

Signature / Dating

  • Artist's insignia on the tree trunk: serpent with elevated wings and dated '1530'

Inscriptions and Labels

  • at the top left:
    'DVM PVER ALVEOLO FVRATVR MELLA CVPIDO, / FVRANTI DIGITVM SEDVLA PVNXIT APIS. / SIC ETIAM …

Inscriptions and Labels

Inscriptions, Badges:

    • at the top left:

  • 'DVM PVER ALVEOLO FVRATVR MELLA CVPIDO, / FVRANTI DIGITVM SEDVLA PVNXIT APIS. / SIC ETIAM NOBIS BREVIS ET MORITVRA VOLVPTAS / QVAM PETIMVS TRISTI MIXTA DOLORE NOCET'

  • (As Cupid was stealing honey from the hive / A bee stung the thief on the finger / And so do we seek transitory and dangerous pleasures / That are mixed with sadness and bring us pain)

  • [Cat. New York 2013, 90]

Stamps, Seals, Labels:

    • on the reverse of the ornamental frame: in black pen: 'A 17284',

  • remnants of white chalk (not legible);

  • printed / handwritten label (Sotheby's Brussels): 'BE 000 638, EOMP, ID ST8NK';

  • handwritten label with blue boarder, barely legible;

  • two printed labels, with pink mark: 'ID No. 002L10036', 'ID No. 003L10036';

    • on the reverse of the panel:

  • yellowed, damaged paper, typewritten: description of the painting in Swedish;

  • black paint, stenciled: 'AM728';

  • in white chalk: 'AM728', 'G', 'LOT 71 [...]';

  • printed / handwritten label (Sotheby's Brussels): 'BE 000 638, EOMP, ID ST8NK';

  • printed label: 'CHRISTINA, Queen of Sweden, XI. Exhibition of the Council of Europe, NATIONALMUSEUM STOCKHOLM 1966, 1289'

Owner
Private Collection
Repository
Private Collection
CDA ID
PRIVATE_NONE-P154
FR (1978) Nr.
FR-none
Persistent Link
https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P154/

Provenance

  • formerly in the Björnstjerna Collection, Stockholm
    [Cat. New York 2013, 93]

Literature

Reference on page Catalogue Number Figure / Plate
Cat. New York 2013 92-93 Fig. 73
AuthorMaryan W. Ainsworth, Joshua P. Waterman
TitleGerman Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1350 - 1600
Place of PublicationNew York
Year of Publication2013
Show Literature

Research History / Discussion

'The similar paint handling and the two instances of oak with an atypical grain orientation raise the possibility that the [Metropolitan Museum (No.1975-1-135)] and the ex-Björnstjerna versions were painted by the same hand - the same copist working from a lost original - sometime after 1607.'

[Cat. New York 2013, 93]

  • Venus with Cupid the Honey Thief, after 1607

Images

Compare images
  • overall
  • overall
  • reverse
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail
  • detail

Documents

Technical studies

  • Identification of wood species / Dendrochronology

Support

- single oak board aligned horizontally

- dendrochronological examination: most recent heartwood ring dates to 1599, the addition of 8 - 38 sapwood rings leads to a felling date between 1607 and 1637

[Examination report, I. Tyers, 2010]

Versions

Venus with Cupid the Honey Thief
  • Venus with Cupid the Honey Thief, 1580 - 1620
  • US_MMANY_1975-1-135
  • Painting
  • The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Citing from the Cranach Digital Archive

Entry with author
<author's name>, 'Venus with Cupid the Honey Thief', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P154/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})
Entry with no author
'Venus with Cupid the Honey Thief', <title of document, data entry or image>. [<Date of document, entry or image>], in: Cranach Digital Archive, https://lucascranach.org/en/PRIVATE_NONE-P154/ (Accessed {{dateAccessed}})

Help us to improve the Cranach Digital Archive.

Please contact us, if you have noticed a mistake.