View source for Leda and the Swan

==In painting==
{{See also|Leda and the Swan (Leonardo)}}
[[Image:Leda and the Swan 1505-1510.jpg|thumb|[[Leda and the Swan (Wilton House)|''Leda and the Swan'']], copy by [[Cesare da Sesto]] after a lost original by [[Leonardo da Vinci|Leonardo]], 1515–1520, Oil on canvas, [[Wilton House]], England.]]
A fresco depicting the Greek myth of Leda and the Swan was unearthed at the Pompeii archaeological site in 2018.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://edition.cnn.com/style/article/fresco-erotic-pompeii-leda-and-swan-intl/index.html | title=Fresco depicting erotic scene uncovered in Pompeii ruins | newspaper=CNN | date=20 November 2018 | last1=Regan | first1=Helen }}</ref> Another fresco commonly attributed to the Leda and the Swan motif was found in the [[House of the Citarist]] (I.4.5/25), and is now housed in the Naples Archaeological Museum (MANN inv. 120034)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rodenwadlt |first=Gerhart |title=Die Komposition der pompejanischen Wandgemälde |publisher=Weidmannsche Buchhandlung |year=1909 |location=Berlin |pages=44 |language=de |trans-title=}}</ref>. It dates to the first century CE. 

[[Leonardo da Vinci]] began making studies in 1504 for a painting, apparently never executed, of Leda seated on the ground with her children. In 1508, he painted a [[Leda and the Swan (Leonardo)|different composition of the subject]], with a nude standing Leda cuddling the Swan, with the two sets of infant twins (also nude), and their huge broken egg-shells. The original of this is lost, possibly deliberately destroyed, and was last recorded in the French royal [[Château de Fontainebleau]] in 1625 by [[Cassiano dal Pozzo]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/the-hunt-leonardo-lost-leda-swan-2448071|title=The Hunt: Was Leonardo's 'Leda and the Swan' Lost, or Never Completed?|first=Vittoria|last=Benzine|website=Artnet|date=8 April 2024}}</ref> However it is known from many copies, of which the earliest are probably the [[Leda and the Swan (Uffizi)|''Spiridon Leda'']], perhaps by a studio assistant and now in the [[Uffizi]],<ref>[[:File:Leda Melzi Uffizi.jpg|image]]; Fossi, Gloria, pp. 402–3, ''Uffizi: art, history, collections'', Giunti Editore Firenze Italy, 2004, {{ISBN|88-09-03676-X}}, 9788809036765 [https://books.google.com/books?id=oNE3ofu8psMC&dq=Spiridon+Leda&pg=PA402 google books]</ref> and the one at [[Leda and the Swan (Wilton House)|Wilton House]] in the United Kingdom (illustrated).

Also lost, and probably deliberately destroyed, is [[Michelangelo]]'s tempera [[Leda and the Swan (Michelangelo)|painting of the pair]] making love, commissioned in 1529 by [[Alfonso I d'Este|Alfonso d'Este]] for his palazzo in [[Ferrara]], and taken to France for the royal collection in 1532; it was at [[Château de Fontainebleau|Fontainebleau]] in 1536. Michelangelo's [[cartoon]] for the work—given to his assistant Antonio Mini, who used it for several copies for French patrons before his death in 1533—survived for over a century.  This composition is known from many copies, including an [[:commons:File:Cornelis Bos - Leda and the Swan - WGA2486.jpg|ambitious engraving]] by [[Cornelis Bos]], c. 1563; the marble sculpture by [[Bartolomeo Ammanati]] in the Bargello, Florence; two copies by the young [[Peter Paul Rubens|Rubens]] on his Italian voyage, and the painting after Michelangelo, ca. 1530, in the [[National Gallery, London]].<ref>Elfriede R. Knauer, "Leda." ''Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen 11'' (1969:5–35) illustrates several copies as well as an engraving of a Roman bas-relief and examples of antique engraved gems that seem to have provided Micelangelo's inspiration and gives a full bibliography of Michelangelo's ''Leda''.</ref> The Michelangelo composition, of about 1530, shows [[Mannerism|Mannerist]] tendencies of elongation and twisted pose (the ''[[figura serpentinata]]'') that were popular at the time. In addition, a sculptural group, similar to the Prado Roman group illustrated, was believed until at least the 19th century to be by Michelangelo.<ref>It belonged to [[John Everett Millais]] and was included in his 2007 [[Tate Britain]] exhibition. Now London, attributed to a 16th-century "follower of Michelangelo".</ref>

[[File:Correggio.jpg|thumb|''[[Leda and the Swan (Correggio)|Leda and the Swan]]'' by [[Correggio]]]]
The last very famous Renaissance painting of the subject is [[Antonio da Correggio|Correggio]]'s elaborate composition of c. 1530 (Berlin); this too was damaged whilst in the [[Orléans collection|collection of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans]], the Regent of France in the minority of [[Louis XV]]. His son [[Louis, Duke of Orléans (born 1703)|Louis]], though a great lover of painting, had periodic crises of conscience about his way of life, in one of which he attacked the figure of Leda with a knife. The damage has been repaired, though full restoration to the original condition was not possible. Both the Leonardo and Michelangelo paintings also disappeared when in the collection of the French Royal Family, and are believed to have been destroyed by more moralistic widows or successors of their owners.<ref>Bull 169.</ref>

There were many other depictions in the Renaissance, including cycles of book illustrations to Ovid, but most were derivative of the compositions mentioned above.<ref>[http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/zino/ho_1982.60.11.htm Bacchiacca (Francesco d'Ubertino): Leda and the Swan | Work of Art | Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The subject remained largely confined to Italy, and sometimes France—Northern versions are rare.<ref>Bull 170.</ref> After something of a hiatus in the 18th and early 19th centuries (apart from a very sensuous [[François Boucher|Boucher]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/his/CoreArt/art/anc_bou_leda.html |title=Leda and the Swan<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=10 March 2007 |archive-date=8 April 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070408200710/http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/his/CoreArt/art/anc_bou_leda.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>), Leda and the Swan became again a popular motif in the later 19th and 20th centuries, with many [[Symbolism (movement)|Symbolist]] and [[Expressionist]] treatments.{{Citation needed|date=November 2025}} [[Gustav Klimt]] painted the subject of Leda with the Swan in 1917, however this work was destroyed in the fire at [[Schloss Immendorf]] in 1945.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Leda - Leda with the swan {{!}} Lost Art Database |url=https://www.lostart.de/en/lost/object/leda-leda-swan/592015 |access-date=2025-11-12 |website=www.lostart.de}}</ref>
[[Image:Oleksa Novakivsky 28.jpg|thumb|[[Oleksa Novakivskyi]]'s ''Leda and the Swan'', Ukraine]]

Also from that era were sculptures of the theme by [[Antonin Mercié]] and [[Max Klinger]].<ref>Dijkstra, Bram, Idols of Perversity, Oxford University Press, New York, 1986 p.315</ref>

[[Image:Paul Cezanne Leda au cygne.jpg|thumb|right|[[Paul Cézanne]]'s ''Leda and the Swan''<ref>Now in the [[Barnes Foundation|Barnes Foundation Collection]], [[Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania|Merion, Pennsylvania]] has been dated as early as 1868 and as late as 1886–1890; the best estimate is 1880–1882; ''Great French Paintings from the Barnes Foundation: Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and Early Modern''. New York: Knopf, 1993. 106.</ref>]]