Lucas Cranach: Cupid stung by bees
‘Cupid complains to
Venus’ by Lucas Cranach
the
Elder, oil on board
Lucas Cranach The
Elder's painted 'Cupid Complaining to Venus' around
1526. Cupid is depicted
stealing honey from a bees nest in a tree, being
stung by the irate bees and complaining to his
mother Venus, the goddess of
love, who stands exquisitely by and chastises Cupid:
'There's never sweetness without
pain'.
A honeybee will sting an intruder if it perceives a
threat, this is a defensive mechansim. Once the bee has
stung the intruder an alarm pheronome is released and
alerts other bees from the hive. They may also sting. A
bee's sting is a
modified ovipositor and during the act
of stinging, bee venom is injected into
the intruder through the sting. In humans this
results in pain and itching, and motivates the
intruder to flee the vicinity. The bees have then
successfully defended their home.
Robbing wild honeybees of their honey, as Cupid does
here, would almost certainly result in angry bees and
stinging. Sometimes death may also result from a bee
sting, this is called anaphylactic reaction
or
shock. Honeybees often target the eyes of their
disturber, apparently attracted by their movement. A
sting in the eye is intensely painful (as the author
can testify) and any attack of the eyes causes
panic. In such a situation Cupid would see the
disturbed bees fly towards him and here them buzzing
angrily. He would experience immediate pain as the
bees stung his flesh. The ensuing pain, panic and
threat to his vulnerable parts, would cause Cupid to
desire to flee. Later Cupid's stings would redden,
swell, remain painful, and become itchy: along with
Venus' chastisement, a lasting reminder of his
theft.
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complete article.
New Queen Honeybee Engraving by Andrew Tyzack
New in Bees in Art: Honeybee tryptich by Richard Lewington
