Art Note: The Provenance of Cranach's 'Cupid Complaining to Venus'

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The Elder Lucas Cranach's painting of Cupid, stung by bees whilst stealing a honey comb, and complaining to Venus, was painted in about 1526 and is signed with his batwinged serpent. It was bought by the London National Gallery in 1963. I wrote to Michael Levey, the gallery's expert on German painting, in preparation for a notice, 'A New Cranach at the National Gallery', which appeared in the Contemporary Review in May, 1964. The only information Sir Michael was able to give me was that it had been recently purchased from a New York art-dealer. I later learned that the dealer was Silbermann (no longer in business) and the price [pounds sterling]134,000.

According to the …