A Sea Goddess

This drawing depicts a female figure in a graceful contrapposto pose, modeled after a Greco-Roman marble. The figure is shown with a truncated right arm, suggesting the artist was sketching a weathered archaeological fragment. Brown wash is used to create a strong sense of three-dimensional form, highlighting the musculature of the torso and the heavy folds of the drapery.

This work exemplifies the Renaissance effort to catalog and internalize the aesthetic language of classical antiquity. In the Neoplatonic tradition of the period, images of Venus or female deities were interpreted as symbols of 'Humanitas' or the 'Celestial Venus,' representing the bridge between material beauty and divine truth.