Around 1509 -1540 · Desire, honey and warning

Honey-stealing Cupid, Venus and Cupid, second version of the bee and Venus alone show Cranach between mythological nude, moral proverb and court elegance.

Cranach introduces the mythological nude into Germanic court painting. His thin Venus sometimes wears only a hat, necklace or transparent veil. In the theme of Honey-stealing Cupid, the child is stung by bees after stealing a ray. Venus reminds him, according to an idyll attributed to Theocritus, that the wounds of love are also small but painful. The moral inscription therefore accompanies an image designed to seduce. When Venus appears alone, apple, gesture and landscape can evoke the judgment of Paris or a more general beauty. The moral inscription therefore accompanies an image designed to seduce. When Venus appears alone, apple, gesture and landscape can evoke the judgment of Paris or a more general beauty. The moral inscription therefore accompanies an image designed to seduce. When Venus appears alone, apple, gesture and landscape can evoke the judgment of Paris or a more general beauty. The moral inscription therefore accompanies an image designed to seduce. When Venus appears alone, apple, gesture and landscape can evoke the judgment of Paris or a more general beauty. The moral inscription therefore accompanies an image designed to seduce. When Venus appears alone, apple, gesture and landscape can by Lucas Cranach the Elder notably compares Venus with Cupid the honey thief and Venus and Cupid. His reading favors drawing.

The Venus of Cranach warns against the pains of desire just as her elegant figure seeks to awaken her.