Venus and Cupid Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1472-1553 1509 Oil on canvas (transferred from panel); 213 x 102 cm This is the first painting in Northern Europe to represent the ancient goddess of love naked (before that only Eve was depicted nude), and it was also Cranach's first work on a theme from Classical mythology. The artist's enthusiasm for humanist ideas and the influence of the Italian Renaissance (seen in the painterly technique and modelling of the figures) are combined with the austere religious ethics of the Reformation. In the upper part of the canvas a Latin verse is inscribed: ‘Resist by every means Cupid's temptations, lest Venus take possession of your blinded soul.' The elongated figure with a small head and the ‘flowing' contour are typical of later works by the artist.