维纳斯与手持蜂巢的丘比特

Venus and Cupid with a Honeycomb is an oil painting by the German artist Lucas Cranach the Elder, one of the masters of the German Renaissance. It was probably executed in 1531 after Cranach met Georg Sabinus, a German poet, diplomat and academic at the University of Wittenberg. It is displayed in the Galleria Borghese, Rome. There are twenty-four paintings on this subject, replicated many times by the painter, including Venus and Cupid with a Honeycomb which belongs to the very first series that began in 1509. Another well known versions is Cupid Complaining to Venus, dated c. 1526–27 and preserved at the National Gallery in London.

Description and style

In this painting, Lucas Cranach the Elder depicts Venus and her son Cupid.

Against the brown background the bare trunk of a tree stands out. The wrinkled bark is in contrast with the ivory complexion of Venus. Her body recalls the classical iconography of the Goddess of Love.

The divinity is a portrait of a Saxon duchess who is completely naked and holds a threadlike drape between her right arm, which rests on the tree on one side, and her right hand on the other. Her drape does not cover her but highlights her sensuality, while her right arm is slightly bent to emphasise the sinuosity of her body. In contrast to her nudity, she wears an elegant red hat that reflects the Gothic style. It is decorated with elegant crane feathers. Such an accessory used to be particularly in vogue at the court of the Electors of Saxony. At that time, women had to choose between this headdress and a cap sown with large pearls to collect their hair. In this painting, Venus wears both of them, along with a necklace of gems and a ribbon, on which the letters "W.A.F.I." are embroidered. The significance is still not clear. Some researchers contend it might be a reference to the effigy's name.

At her feet, the winged infant Cupid looks up at her mother. With a darker complexion, his body is full of chiaroscuro, which highlights the roundness of the child. He has light blue wings with white reflections like the feathers of his mother's hat. He is holding a honeycomb, possibly taken from a hole towards the bottom of the tree trunk. A swarm of bees from the honeycomb have landed on his arms and the tree. In contrast to other depictions, Cupid does not scream or flee from the bees. His expression is sullen, and he is turning to Venus for comfort but she does not display any compassion. With this episode, Cranach is attempting to convey a message to the viewer by showing Cupid suffering from the same kind of anguish that he causes to mankind with the shooting of his arrows.

The setting of the painting invokes both Arcadia due to the nudity of the characters and the early 1500s due to the Northern Renaissance-style hat, hairstyle, and necklace. It deals with the universal and eternal theme of love and pain. The moralizing explanation is made explicit by the distich. The moralist Chelidonius emphasizes that voluptas (short-lived 'pleasures' or 'delights') are accompanied by pain; the reference is to promiscuity. The painting is regarded as an allegory of the pleasures and pains of love, as well as a possible warning of the risks of venereal disease, which was widespread among the soldiers of the continent's wars. The denunciation of casual relationships and of the most diffuse diseases, such as syphilis, is evident from the representation made of Venus. The meaning behind this picture is described in a moral couplet by Chelidonius, situated in the upper right corner of the painting.

Execution date

The painting was most likely completed in 1531, as was indicated by an inscription that was once visible on the tree trunk, bearing the initials and the date of creation in the center of the composition. This inscription was later interpreted by Paola Della Pergola in 1959 and Kristina Herrmann Fiore in 2010 as being part of a symbol of a winged snake. There is still a legible inscription of initials on the trunk in the center of the composition.

Cranach's style

Cranach's style inVenus and Cupid with the Honeycomb is influenced by the Danube school, of which Cranach was a founder member. This explains why the painted lines in the image of Venus and Cupid with the Honeycomb are delicate and graceful.……

节选，摘自英文维基百科「Venus and Cupid with a Honeycomb」，按 CC BY-SA 4.0 使用。