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(piano music)
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Man: Pleasure often comes with
a cost, with a little pain.
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Lucas Cranach the elder
reminds us of us of that
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in his painting, Cupid
Complaining to Venus.
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Woman: We see Cupid who
has reached for a honeycomb
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only to be stung by a whole set of bees.
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He's looking up at
Venus his mother in pain
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as though he's pleading for her sympathy.
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Man: She doesn't seem to be paying
attention to him at all however.
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Instead, she is looking out
at us as a sultry seducer.
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Woman: There is no denying the
eroticism of this painting,
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of her body, of her look toward us,
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the way that she
positions her legs between
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that branch, the way that she reaches
up toward the apples on the tree,
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reminding us of Eve
and the Garden of Eden.
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Man: So this is really
a bit of a composite.
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You have on the one hand this
reference back to antiquity.
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You have Venus the goddess
of love and beauty.
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You have her son Cupid. These
are all classical references.
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In fact, in the top you have
a translation from the Latin,
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which actually speaks to the relationship
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between pain and pleasure,
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yet we also have this very dramatic image
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with this dark forest on the left
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and fashions actually that
relate to the Saxon court.
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Woman: Cranach was court
painter to the electors,
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the rulers of Saxony.
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Man: Who actually
commissioned this painting.
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Woman: And so the woman here, Venus,
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although she's the pagan
goddess of love as you said,
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is wearing the headdress and necklaces
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of an Aristocratic woman
at the court in Saxony.
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Man: It's a little bit vampy
to have this nude woman wear
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both jewelry and that wild headdress.
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Woman: And be utterly nude otherwise.
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Man: Yeah it is. She is
painted so seductively
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that he really is challenging
us with the moral issues
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of our lust.
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Woman: Of whether the
pleasure is worth the pain.
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Man: Exactly.
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Woman: So on the left we
have a German forest with
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stag and a doe and on
the right a very deep
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landscape with a lovely
reflection in the river.
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Man: You can see in that water two swans
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and the reflection of a
house with a red roof.
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Beyond that is wonderfully fanciful cliffs
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and there is a castle up at the top.
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There is a house that is
cantilevered over on the right side.
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Woman: And the castle on the river itself.
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Man: With the beautiful
reflection in that still water.
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Woman: This is an Aristocratic image.
This is an image of castles on rivers.
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It feels German to me in so many ways.
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The forest, the rivers, the castles.
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Man: And yet in the foreground
you have this wonderful
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classicized literary reference.
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And it's not only sexual but
it's also really playful.
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Let's not forget about
the complaining infant.
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(piano music).