Leda - Rafael Santi

This pen-and-ink drawing depicts a nude woman with intricately braided hair leaning toward a large swan. The figure's body is rendered with dense hatching to show musculature, while she gazes downward at the bird with a faint smile. It is a study of human anatomy and graceful movement based on a lost composition by Leonardo da Vinci.

This work is Raphael's direct study of Leonardo da Vinci's lost 'Leda and the Swan,' illustrating the transmission of artistic ideas in Renaissance Florence. In Neoplatonic thought, the union of Leda and the swan was often interpreted as an allegory for the soul's contact with the divine and the generative power of nature.