Banned Venus bounces back for Cranach exhibition

By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - A 16th century painting deemed too racy by London Underground to advertise a groundbreaking exhibition by German Renaissance artist Lucas Cranach the Elder has made it back in time for the show's opening on Saturday.

Venus, wearing a foxy smile and virtually nothing else, was banned on the grounds of taste. But the ban has now been lifted and a mistake admitted.

The decision was a relief for the Royal Academy of Arts which had chosen the deliberately seductive painting dating from 1532 to advertise the first major exhibition in Britain devoted exclusively to the works of the elder Cranach.

At a preview of the exhibition on Tuesday co-curator Bodo Brinkmann described Cranach as a phenomenon who came to epitomise the German Renaissance and who captured the spirit of the Reformation in the process.

"He was the archetypal artist of the German Reformation," he told reporters.

The compact exhibition that runs to June 8 starts with a selection of his earliest known works heavily influenced by Albrecht Durer but already bearing his own distinctive style.

A key offering in this section is the Martyrdom of St Catherine dated 1505 and full of bright colours, vivid action and deep perspective.

"This marks the transition from the vigorous style of a young painter to the more mature works of his later years with vibrant colours and composition," Brinkmann said.