Lucas Cranach the Elder, Cupid complaining to Venus, c. 1525

Lucas Cranach the Elder, Cupid complaining to Venus, c. 1525, oil on wood, 81.3 x 54.6 cm (The National Gallery, London)

(piano music)

Man: Pleasure often comes with
a cost, with a little pain.

Lucas Cranach the elder
reminds us of us of that

in his painting, Cupid
Complaining to Venus.

Woman: We see Cupid who
has reached for a honeycomb

only to be stung by a whole set of bees.

He's looking up at
Venus his mother in pain

as though he's pleading for her sympathy.

Man: She doesn't seem to be paying
attention to him at all however.

Instead, she is looking out
at us as a sultry seducer.

Woman: There is no denying the
eroticism of this painting,

of her body, of her look toward us,

the way that she
positions her legs between

that branch, the way that she reaches
up toward the apples on the tree,

reminding us of Eve
and the Garden of Eden.

Man: So this is really
a bit of a composite.

You have on the one hand this
reference back to antiquity.

You have Venus the goddess
of love and beauty.

You have her son Cupid. These
are all classical references.

In fact, in the top you have
a translation from the Latin,

which actually speaks to the relationship

between pain and pleasure,

yet we also have this very dramatic image

with this dark forest on the left

and fashions actually that
relate to the Saxon court.

Woman: Cranach was court
painter to the electors,

the rulers of Saxony.

Man: Who actually
commissioned this painting.

Woman: And so the woman here, Venus,

although she's the pagan
goddess of love as you said,

is wearing the headdress and necklaces

of an Aristocratic woman
at the court in Saxony.

Man: It's a little bit vampy
to have this nude woman wear

both jewelry and that wild headdress.

Woman: And be utterly nude otherwise.

Man: Yeah it is. She is
painted so seductively

that he really is challenging
us with the moral issues

of our lust.

Woman: Of whether the
pleasure is worth the pain.

Man: Exactly.

Woman: So on the left we
have a German forest with

stag and a doe and on
the right a very deep

landscape with a lovely
reflection in the river.

Man: You can see in that water two swans

and the reflection of a
house with a red roof.

Beyond that is wonderfully fanciful cliffs

and there is a castle up at the top.

There is a house that is
cantilevered over on the right side.

Woman: And the castle on the river itself.

Man: With the beautiful
reflection in that still water.

Woman: This is an Aristocratic image.
This is an image of castles on rivers.

It feels German to me in so many ways.

The forest, the rivers, the castles.

Man: And yet in the foreground
you have this wonderful

classicized literary reference.

And it's not only sexual but
it's also really playful.

Let's not forget about
the complaining infant.

(piano music).