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This is the earliest of Cranach's mythological paintings and the first in Germany depicting a naked Venus and Cupid. The interest in mythology which often served as a pretext for a display of nudity, may have been dictated by humanist fashion. At the same time, Cranach's strict sense of propriety caused him to accompany the depiction with a moralising Latin couplet: "Reject Cupid's lasciviousness with all your might, or else Venus will possess your blinded soul."
The composition of the painting is strongly influenced by Dürer.
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