No. 66 of 74 (PAJ1976 - PAJ2049)

A classical study of a female nude, presumably Venus, seated on a cloud and framed by a swathe of drape, holding an arrow aloft in her right hand. A naked Cupid, with his bow in his left hand, reclines against her thigh and reaches up for the arrow, and another putto below scatters flowers from those crowning its head. This and PAJ2042 are accomplished compositions, possibly based on pre-existing classical examples.

It is one of 73 drawings by Bray (plus one signed 'NF 1782') preserved in a 19th-century album. They have now been separately remounted. Bray (1750-1823), was second lieutenant of the 44-gun ‘Pallas’ under Captain the Hon. William Cornwallis (1744-1819) – later a well-known admiral - on two voyages (1774-77) to report on British interests in West Africa, including the slave trade. The dated drawings refer only to the first of these, from December 1774 to September 1775, though a few may be from the second. Others comprise country views, some of Deal, Kent (where Bray may have come from), and others of social-history interest.