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Venus with Cupid the Honey Thief was painted at least in fifteen versions by Cranach. Although Dürer was also aware of the subject, its circulation in the form of a panel painting became a speciality of the Cranach workshop.
In a few cases Cranach featured Venus as a single figure. The small painting in Frankfurt is perhaps the most exquisite of Cranach's depictions of Venus, it inspired many artists even in the twentieth century.
Of all secular subjects he treated, Cranach painted the suicide of Lucretia the most frequently, in almost 40 versions. At first he showed her only rarely as a pure nude, either half- or full-length, usually, as the daughter of a Roman nobleman, she appeared in a magnificent costume. However, after about twenty years, he increasingly favoured the nude version.
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| Summary of works by Lucas Cranach the Elder |
| Paintings |
| altar retables | representations of the Virgin | St Jerome |
| religious themes until 1515 | from 1516 |
| biblical scenes | biblical nudes |
| mythological nudes | Venus and Lucretia | allegorical scenes |
| portraits until 1515 | 1516-1526 | from 1527 |
| miscellaneous paintings |
| Graphics |
| drawings | woodcuts |
