Zeus and Leda
Leda was an Aetolian princess who became a Spartan queen. Her myth gave rise to the popular motif in Renaissance and later art of Leda and the Swan
Leda was admired by Zeus, who raped her in the guise of a swan. As a swan, Zeus fell into her arms for protection from a pursuing eagle. Their consummation, on the same night as Leda lay with her husband Tyndareus, resulted in two eggs from which hatched Helen (later known as the beautiful "Helen of Troy"), Clytemnestra, and Castor and Pollux (also known as the Dioscuri). Which children are the progeny of Tyndareus the mortal king, and which are of Zeus and thus half-immortal, is not consistent among accounts, nor is which child hatched from which egg. The split is almost always half mortal, half divine, although the pairings do not always reflect the children's heritage pairings. Castor and Pollux are sometimes both mortal, sometimes both divine. One consistent point is that if only one of them is immortal, it is Pollux. It is also always stated that Helen is the daughter of Zeus.
Zeus and Leda Stamp Collection
Ajman 1975 Leda and the Swan by Leonardo de Vinci
Paraguay 1975 Leda and the Swan by Leonardo de Vinci
Gambia 2000 Leda and the Swan by Leonardo de Vinci
Leonardo was very absorbed with the theme of Leda during the time he was working on Mona Lisa and while in Milan he made many sketches of the swans in the moat around the Castello. The picture was described by Cassiano del Pozzo in 1625; at this stage it was in the royal collection in Fontainebleau.
By the eighteenth century the artwork was completely lost to us; fortunately several things remain to give a good idea what it looked like. There are Leonardo's drawings of the head and bust of Leda; a famous drawing done in 1506 by Raphael; a red chalk drawing which may have been done by an assistant to Leonardo; a picture by Bugiardini which was based upon Leonardo's original cartoon (done in 1504); another copy probably by Francesco Melzi and based on Leonardo's second cartoon (drawn around 1508); plus a copy by another pupil, Cesare da Sesto; this final work is said to be closest to Leonardo's original and is displayed on this page. Leonardo's head and coiffure study for Leda and the Swan is signed; it should be noted that this is not his signature, having been added at a later date by one of the owners.
Paraguay 1973 and Guinee 1998 Leda and the Swan by Francesco Melzi (1491-1568) at 1515 after the lost painting of Leonardo de Vinci which is called "The Spiridon Leda"
Nicaragua 1984 Leda and the Swan painting by Antonio Allegri da Correggio (1489 – 1534), art gallery, Berlin, Germany. to commemorate the 450th anniversary of the death of Correggio
Paraguay 1988 Leda and the Swan painting by Antonio Allegri da Correggio (1489 – 1534), art gallery, Berlin, Germany.
Paraguay 1982 Leda and the Swan by Raphael. A copy of the composition of 'Leda and the Swan' by Leonardo. The drawing shows the nude figure of Leda, with her arms around the neck of the swan, standing on the right; at lower left is an infant looking upwards. Raphael was the single most influential artist in the history of Western painting; his compositions and figure types formed the basis of the classical style for the next four centuries. This is a copy made by Raphael of a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci, which was subsequently lost.
Manama 1971 Leda and the Swan painting by Antonio Allegri da Correggio (1489 – 1534), art gallery, Berlin, Germany.
Leda and the Swan is an oil on canvas painting from 1530–31 by the Italian painter Correggio, now in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin. It shows three scenes of Leda's seduction by Jupiter who has taken the form of a swan. Their first meeting is shown on the right hand side and their lovemaking in the centre, where Leda sits with the swan between her thighs, guiding him with her left hand. They are accompanied to their left by Cupid with his bow and two cupids with flutes. The third scene (again on the right hand side) is the swan flying away whilst Leda gets dressed. Leda and the Swan was a common subject in 16th-century art.
Equatorial Guinea 1978 Leda and the Swan by Peter Paul Rubens(1577-1640)
East Germany 1977 Leda and the Swan by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
Manama 1971 Leda and the Swan by Tintoreto (1518-1594)
Rubens was heavily influenced by Michelangelo.He was introduced to his work on his journey to Italy. Rubens decided to go to Rome to make copies of paintings and further his studies of Italian art from the leading Italian artists of the previous century, later termed the Renaissance. In Rome, he encountered Michelangelo's version of Leda and the Swan. Even though Michelangelo's version does not exist today, copies of it do.A copy of Michelangelo's original work was done by Rubens. Rubens would have been familiar with Michelangelo's Leda. His version is considered a prototype for Rubens's two works.Rubens's 1601 Leda, was modeled after Michelangelo's Leda.The placement of the body is very similar as is its twisting posture. Even the positioning of the fingers is mirrored. The swan is caressing the female in exactly the same way.
Cyprus 1980 Leda and the swan
mosaic from Kouklia, 3rd century A.D.
Cyprus 1989 Leda and the swan
4th century mosaic from Paphos.
Leda and the Swan by Tintoretto is an oil on canvas painted in the second half of the 16th century.
Jacopo Robusti - famous as Tintoretto - is considered the last great painter of the Italian Renaissance, but he is above all a very important exponent of the Venetian School of painting.
He was called "Il Furioso" (The Furious) because of his dramatic use of light and perspective, which makes him a precursor of the Baroque.
This painting depicts the classical theme of Leda, the woman loved by Zeus in the guise of a swan. Characters form a V structure, while the contrast between the red curtain and the white Leda's skin shows the lack of contour lines is typical of Venetian painting.