Venus and Cupid (Copy after Cranach)
Canvas 88 x 50 cm.
Paint loss.
Svensk-Franska Konstgalleriet, Stockholm, 1939.
Bukowski auktioner, Moderna Höstauktionen 549, 28 - 31 October 2008, cat. no. 117. Private collection, Stockholm. Purchased on the auction above.
Lucas Cranach the Elder's painting "Venus and Amor", with the masterful handling of the delicate, transparent piece of fabric and elegant classical composition, can be dated to around 1520-25. The painting came to Sweden through the so-called "Prague Loot" and is part of the collections at Nationalmuseum, Stockholm. Nils Dardel's painting with the same composition transports the viewer several hundred years forward in time, to Dardel's characteristic brushwork and manner, in a personal interpretation of this well-known motif.