1 00:00:01,049 --> 00:00:04,374 (piano music) 2 00:00:04,374 --> 00:00:07,968 Man: Pleasure often comes with a cost, with a little pain. 3 00:00:07,968 --> 00:00:10,778 Lucas Cranach the elder reminds us of us of that 4 00:00:10,778 --> 00:00:13,489 in his painting, Cupid Complaining to Venus. 5 00:00:13,489 --> 00:00:16,107 Woman: We see Cupid who has reached for a honeycomb 6 00:00:16,107 --> 00:00:19,121 only to be stung by a whole set of bees. 7 00:00:19,121 --> 00:00:22,262 He's looking up at Venus his mother in pain 8 00:00:22,262 --> 00:00:24,275 as though he's pleading for her sympathy. 9 00:00:24,275 --> 00:00:27,356 Man: She doesn't seem to be paying attention to him at all however. 10 00:00:27,356 --> 00:00:31,168 Instead, she is looking out at us as a sultry seducer. 11 00:00:31,168 --> 00:00:34,630 Woman: There is no denying the eroticism of this painting, 12 00:00:34,630 --> 00:00:37,372 of her body, of her look toward us, 13 00:00:37,372 --> 00:00:40,108 the way that she positions her legs between 14 00:00:40,108 --> 00:00:45,285 that branch, the way that she reaches up toward the apples on the tree, 15 00:00:45,285 --> 00:00:47,997 reminding us of Eve and the Garden of Eden. 16 00:00:47,997 --> 00:00:49,749 Man: So this is really a bit of a composite. 17 00:00:49,749 --> 00:00:52,685 You have on the one hand this reference back to antiquity. 18 00:00:52,685 --> 00:00:55,063 You have Venus the goddess of love and beauty. 19 00:00:55,063 --> 00:00:58,230 You have her son Cupid. These are all classical references. 20 00:00:58,230 --> 00:01:01,932 In fact, in the top you have a translation from the Latin, 21 00:01:01,932 --> 00:01:04,498 which actually speaks to the relationship 22 00:01:04,498 --> 00:01:06,336 between pain and pleasure, 23 00:01:06,336 --> 00:01:09,268 yet we also have this very dramatic image 24 00:01:09,268 --> 00:01:11,530 with this dark forest on the left 25 00:01:11,530 --> 00:01:14,784 and fashions actually that relate to the Saxon court. 26 00:01:14,784 --> 00:01:17,680 Woman: Cranach was court painter to the electors, 27 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:19,509 the rulers of Saxony. 28 00:01:19,509 --> 00:01:20,896 Man: Who actually commissioned this painting. 29 00:01:20,896 --> 00:01:22,690 Woman: And so the woman here, Venus, 30 00:01:22,690 --> 00:01:25,817 although she's the pagan goddess of love as you said, 31 00:01:25,817 --> 00:01:28,104 is wearing the headdress and necklaces 32 00:01:28,104 --> 00:01:31,674 of an Aristocratic woman at the court in Saxony. 33 00:01:31,674 --> 00:01:35,683 Man: It's a little bit vampy to have this nude woman wear 34 00:01:35,683 --> 00:01:38,776 both jewelry and that wild headdress. 35 00:01:38,776 --> 00:01:40,771 Woman: And be utterly nude otherwise. 36 00:01:40,771 --> 00:01:43,598 Man: Yeah it is. She is painted so seductively 37 00:01:43,598 --> 00:01:48,191 that he really is challenging us with the moral issues 38 00:01:48,191 --> 00:01:49,874 of our lust. 39 00:01:49,874 --> 00:01:51,819 Woman: Of whether the pleasure is worth the pain. 40 00:01:51,819 --> 00:01:53,040 Man: Exactly. 41 00:01:53,040 --> 00:01:56,404 Woman: So on the left we have a German forest with 42 00:01:56,404 --> 00:02:00,178 stag and a doe and on the right a very deep 43 00:02:00,178 --> 00:02:03,005 landscape with a lovely reflection in the river. 44 00:02:03,005 --> 00:02:06,971 Man: You can see in that water two swans 45 00:02:06,971 --> 00:02:08,905 and the reflection of a house with a red roof. 46 00:02:08,905 --> 00:02:11,971 Beyond that is wonderfully fanciful cliffs 47 00:02:11,971 --> 00:02:14,400 and there is a castle up at the top. 48 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:16,594 There is a house that is cantilevered over on the right side. 49 00:02:16,594 --> 00:02:18,780 Woman: And the castle on the river itself. 50 00:02:18,780 --> 00:02:21,250 Man: With the beautiful reflection in that still water. 51 00:02:21,250 --> 00:02:26,474 Woman: This is an Aristocratic image. This is an image of castles on rivers. 52 00:02:26,474 --> 00:02:29,548 It feels German to me in so many ways. 53 00:02:29,548 --> 00:02:32,199 The forest, the rivers, the castles. 54 00:02:32,199 --> 00:02:35,151 Man: And yet in the foreground you have this wonderful 55 00:02:35,151 --> 00:02:37,333 classicized literary reference. 56 00:02:37,333 --> 00:02:40,583 And it's not only sexual but it's also really playful. 57 00:02:40,583 --> 00:02:43,067 Let's not forget about the complaining infant. 58 00:02:43,067 --> 00:02:47,067 (piano music).