The subject is inspired by Idyll XIX "Keriokleptes" ("The Honeycomb Stealer") attributed to the Ancient Greek poet Theocritus, in which Cupid complains of the painful stings inflicted by the small insects, and Venus laughingly compares them to the bittersweet darts of love shot by Cupid himself. The text was first translated into German in the 1520s, and the subject may have been suggested to Cranach by a German patron. To the top right is a Latin inscription painted with black words directly on the blue sky, making it difficult to read, but also suggesting this may be the earliest version of the painting, as later versions place the inscription on a white panel. The four line inscription is taken from Latin translations of Theocritus, variously attributed to Ercole Strozzi and Philip Melanchthon or to Georg Sabinus, which reads:
