Venus

Venus is depicted as a powerful, muscular figure in the Northern Mannerist style, lounging atop heavy clouds with her drapery billowing behind her. Below her, the winged Cupid gazes up while clutching an arrow, accompanied by a pair of billing doves in the sky and his discarded quiver on a cloud bank.

As part of a series on the Seven Planets, this work illustrates the astrological and Neoplatonic role of Venus as the 'World Soul' (Anima Mundi), the cosmic force of attraction that binds the spiritual and material realms together.