[2] The painting depicts the Roman goddess of love, Venus, with her son Amor (Cupid) and the model is believed to be either Magdalena Offenburg or her daughter Dorothea.

He has red-orange hair, rendered in the same colouring and tone of the rich cloth sleeves covering his mother's upper arms.

[5] Leonardesque portrait painting was very popular across northern Europe during the 1520s, and it is generally believed that a number of Holbein's works were direct attempts to gain favour from potential wealthy patrons.

The art historians Oskar Bätschmann and Pascal Griener wrote in 1999 that, as with the artist's similar Lais of Corinth, Venus' open hand is "stretched towards the beholder and prospective collector.

Amerbach's inventory records that it began as a portrait of a lady from the Offenburg family,[1] however, this claim has not been substantiated by art historians.