Farnesina Galathea

Galatea is depicted looking toward the sky as she steers her shell through the waves, her red drapery billowing in the wind. Around her, tritons and Nereids embrace and blow into conch shells, while three winged cupids aim arrows at her from the clouds. A fourth cupid rests at the bottom of the frame, clutching a dolphin near the shore.

This composition is a key expression of High Renaissance Neoplatonism, representing the 'Idea' of beauty rather than a mere imitation of nature. Raphael famously noted that he painted Galatea based on a mental ideal of perfection, a concept rooted in the Platonic philosophy that dominated the intellectual circles of Rome and Florence.