LIEZEN-MAYER, Sándor
(b. 1839, Győr, d. 1898, München)

Venus and Tannhäuser

c. 1875
Oil on canvas, 84 x 55 cm
Magyar Nemzeti Galéria, Budapest

Tannhäuser (died after 1265) was a German Minnesänger and poet. He was an active courtier at the court of Frederick II of Austria (1230-1246), and the Codex Manesse (1340) depicts him clad in the Teutonic Order habit, suggesting he might have fought the Fifth Crusade (1213-21)

Tannhäuser became the subject of legend, first attested in 1430, propagated in ballads from 1450. The legendary account makes Tannhäuser a knight and poet who found the Venusberg, the subterranean home of Venus, and spent a year there worshipping the goddess. The legend was made famous in modern times through Richard Wagner's three-act opera Tannhäuser, completed in 1845.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 14 minutes):
Richard Wagner: Tannhäuser, overture