# Cupid Stung by Bees

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/ravesteyn-dirck-de-quade-van-r3fbeb4e7963d9b/cupid-stung-by-bees-rd153d4371f0bb4>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [RAVESTEYN, Dirck de Quade van](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/ravesteyn-dirck-de-quade-van-r3fbeb4e7963d9b>)
- Date: 1601-1650
- Technique: Red and black chalk, 198 x 150 mm

## Commentary

This chalk drawing with a moral lesson tells the story of Cupid, the god of love, who ran to his mother Venus, vainly trying to escape a swarm of bees whose honeycomb he had stolen. According to the fable told by the Greek poet Theocritus, in his Idylls, Venus laughs and says: &#34;Are you not just like the bee - so little yet able to inflict such painful wounds?&#34; Ravesteyn borrowed the figure of Cupid along with the beehive behind him &lt;a onclick=&#34;return OpenOther\(&#39;/html/d/durer/2/16/2/11cupid.html&#39;\)&#34; href=&#34;/html/d/durer/2/16/2/11cupid.html&#34;&gt;from a drawing by Dürer&lt;/a&gt; depicting the same theme. &lt;p&gt; &lt;table align=left cellpadding=5 border=1 width=320 bgcolor=&#34;\#99cccc&#34;&gt; &lt;tr valign=middle&gt;&lt;td&gt;&lt;img src=&#34;/support/gif/listen.gif&#34; border=0 valign=middle&gt; Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 4 minutes\):&lt;br&gt;&lt;a href=&#34;\#&#34; onClick=&#34;w=window.open \(&#39;/music1/17\_cent/gasparini\_cupid.html&#39;, &#39;newWin&#39;, &#39;scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350&#39;\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true&#34;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Francesco Gasparini: The Meddlesome Cupid, aria&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/a&gt; &lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/table&gt;

## Related artworks

- [Allegory of Music](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/ravesteyn-dirck-de-quade-van-r3fbeb4e7963d9b/allegory-of-music-r3ed87c2ff24476>)
- [Venus, Adonis and Cupid](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/ravesteyn-dirck-de-quade-van-r3fbeb4e7963d9b/venus-adonis-and-cupid-r85b1feb7c01e2a>)
- [Venus Riding a Satyr](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/ravesteyn-dirck-de-quade-van-r3fbeb4e7963d9b/venus-riding-a-satyr-rbacbe8a06791d6>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)