Psyche Presenting Venus with Water from the Styx

Raphael produced this impressive chalk on paper artwork in 1517

The artist's sketch, Psyche Presenting Venus with Water from the Styx, is one of the few artworks from his career which remain under the ownership of the Louvre in Paris.

This famous French art gallery, probably the most famous art collection in the world, is more renowned for its possession of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.

There is relatively little information available on most of Raphael's chalk drawings but his methods for producing them remained fairly consistent. He addressed the female body on many occasions in this medium.

Cupid and Psyche is a famous religious story which describes the survival of love through all manner of life challenges. It is a story which can apply to scenarios from pretty much any century or generation.

Many other artists have also used the theme of Cupid and Psyche in their work, whilst Raphael used it within both paintings and drawings.

Allegory of Love, Cupid and Psyche by Goya, Cupid and Psyche by William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Psyche entering Cupid's Garden by John William Waterhouse are amongst the best known interpretations from the Early Renaissance up to the present day.