Venus Anadyomene, after Raphael, 1939,0201.1

This red chalk drawing depicts the classical motif of Venus Anadyomene, or Venus rising from the sea. The figure is shown in a graceful, twisting pose known as contrapposto, balanced on a shell that floats upon a simplified horizon of water. The artist uses delicate hatching and shading to define the muscularity and form of the goddess's back and limbs.

In the Neoplatonic framework of the Renaissance, Venus Anadyomene represents 'Venus Urania,' the celestial beauty born of the divine mind rather than earthly passion. This iconography, famously promoted by Marsilio Ficino, symbolizes the soul's ascent from the primordial waters of the material world toward divine illumination.