# Venus and Cupid [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [CRANACH, Lucas the Elder]() - Date: 1501-1550 - Technique: Oil on canvas transferred from wood, 213 x 102 cm ## Commentary Venus and Cupid 1509 Oil on canvas transferred from wood, 213 x 102 cm The Hermitage, St. Petersburg This is the earliest of Cranach's mythological paintings and the first in Germany depicting a naked Venus and Cupid. The interest in mythology which often served as a pretext for a display of nudity, may have been dictated by humanist fashion. At the same time, Cranach's strict sense of propriety caused him to accompany the depiction with a moralising Latin couplet: "Reject Cupid's lasciviousness with all your might, or else Venus will possess your blinded soul." The composition of the painting is strongly influenced by Dürer. ## Related artworks - [A Faun and his Family with a Slain Lion \(detail\)]() - [A Faun and his Family with a Slain Lion]() - [A Prince of Saxony]() - [A Princess of Saxony]() - [Adam and Eve \(detail\)]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() - [Adam and Eve]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()