Lucas Cranach the Elder's Venus and Cupid joins the collections of the National Gallery

The National Gallery in London has acquired a new painting, thanks to the generosity of the Drue Heinz Charitable Trust, following the death of Mrs. Heinz last year. During her lifetime, the latter was a very important patron of the arts for the United States and Britain.

The painting donated by the foundation is Venus and Cupid, a work created by Lucas Cranach the Elder (Kronach, 1472 - Weimar, 1553) in 1529 and is part of a series, completed between 1520 and 1530) of other masterpieces by theGerman Renaissance artist depicting the two mythological figures, mother and son.

Venus and Cupid are standing naked in a mountain landscape. A Latin inscription indicates that Cupid has stolen a beehive and bees are stinging him. The painting’s meaning hints at the brevity and changeability of life’s pleasures, as opposed to the pains that are eternal. The work can now be seen in Room 4 of the London museum. The National Gallery also houses another work on the same subject, Venus and Cupid (c. 1526).

www.nationalgallery.org.uk

Pictured: Lucas Cranach the Elder, Venus and Cupid (1529; oil on panel, 38.1 x 23.5 cm; London, National Gallery)

Lucas Cranach the Elder's Venus and Cupid joins the collections of the National Gallery

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