WEBVTT 00:00:01.049 --> 00:00:04.374 (piano music) 00:00:04.374 --> 00:00:07.968 Man: Pleasure often comes with a cost, with a little pain. 00:00:07.968 --> 00:00:10.778 Lucas Cranach the elder reminds us of us of that 00:00:10.778 --> 00:00:13.489 in his painting, Cupid Complaining to Venus. 00:00:13.489 --> 00:00:16.107 Woman: We see Cupid who has reached for a honeycomb 00:00:16.107 --> 00:00:19.121 only to be stung by a whole set of bees. 00:00:19.121 --> 00:00:22.262 He's looking up at Venus his mother in pain 00:00:22.262 --> 00:00:24.275 as though he's pleading for her sympathy. 00:00:24.275 --> 00:00:27.356 Man: She doesn't seem to be paying attention to him at all however. 00:00:27.356 --> 00:00:31.168 Instead, she is looking out at us as a sultry seducer. 00:00:31.168 --> 00:00:34.630 Woman: There is no denying the eroticism of this painting, 00:00:34.630 --> 00:00:37.372 of her body, of her look toward us, 00:00:37.372 --> 00:00:40.108 the way that she positions her legs between 00:00:40.108 --> 00:00:45.285 that branch, the way that she reaches up toward the apples on the tree, 00:00:45.285 --> 00:00:47.997 reminding us of Eve and the Garden of Eden. 00:00:47.997 --> 00:00:49.749 Man: So this is really a bit of a composite. 00:00:49.749 --> 00:00:52.685 You have on the one hand this reference back to antiquity. 00:00:52.685 --> 00:00:55.063 You have Venus the goddess of love and beauty. 00:00:55.063 --> 00:00:58.230 You have her son Cupid. These are all classical references. 00:00:58.230 --> 00:01:01.932 In fact, in the top you have a translation from the Latin, 00:01:01.932 --> 00:01:04.498 which actually speaks to the relationship 00:01:04.498 --> 00:01:06.336 between pain and pleasure, 00:01:06.336 --> 00:01:09.268 yet we also have this very dramatic image 00:01:09.268 --> 00:01:11.530 with this dark forest on the left 00:01:11.530 --> 00:01:14.784 and fashions actually that relate to the Saxon court. 00:01:14.784 --> 00:01:17.680 Woman: Cranach was court painter to the electors, 00:01:17.680 --> 00:01:19.509 the rulers of Saxony. 00:01:19.509 --> 00:01:20.896 Man: Who actually commissioned this painting. 00:01:20.896 --> 00:01:22.690 Woman: And so the woman here, Venus, 00:01:22.690 --> 00:01:25.817 although she's the pagan goddess of love as you said, 00:01:25.817 --> 00:01:28.104 is wearing the headdress and necklaces 00:01:28.104 --> 00:01:31.674 of an Aristocratic woman at the court in Saxony. 00:01:31.674 --> 00:01:35.683 Man: It's a little bit vampy to have this nude woman wear 00:01:35.683 --> 00:01:38.776 both jewelry and that wild headdress. 00:01:38.776 --> 00:01:40.771 Woman: And be utterly nude otherwise. 00:01:40.771 --> 00:01:43.598 Man: Yeah it is. She is painted so seductively 00:01:43.598 --> 00:01:48.191 that he really is challenging us with the moral issues 00:01:48.191 --> 00:01:49.874 of our lust. 00:01:49.874 --> 00:01:51.819 Woman: Of whether the pleasure is worth the pain. 00:01:51.819 --> 00:01:53.040 Man: Exactly. 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:56.404 Woman: So on the left we have a German forest with 00:01:56.404 --> 00:02:00.178 stag and a doe and on the right a very deep 00:02:00.178 --> 00:02:03.005 landscape with a lovely reflection in the river. 00:02:03.005 --> 00:02:06.971 Man: You can see in that water two swans 00:02:06.971 --> 00:02:08.905 and the reflection of a house with a red roof. 00:02:08.905 --> 00:02:11.971 Beyond that is wonderfully fanciful cliffs 00:02:11.971 --> 00:02:14.400 and there is a castle up at the top. 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:16.594 There is a house that is cantilevered over on the right side. 00:02:16.594 --> 00:02:18.780 Woman: And the castle on the river itself. 00:02:18.780 --> 00:02:21.250 Man: With the beautiful reflection in that still water. 00:02:21.250 --> 00:02:26.474 Woman: This is an Aristocratic image. This is an image of castles on rivers. 00:02:26.474 --> 00:02:29.548 It feels German to me in so many ways. 00:02:29.548 --> 00:02:32.199 The forest, the rivers, the castles. 00:02:32.199 --> 00:02:35.151 Man: And yet in the foreground you have this wonderful 00:02:35.151 --> 00:02:37.333 classicized literary reference. 00:02:37.333 --> 00:02:40.583 And it's not only sexual but it's also really playful. 00:02:40.583 --> 00:02:43.067 Let's not forget about the complaining infant. 00:02:43.067 --> 00:02:47.067 (piano music).