Leda and the Swan

This painting by Correggio (1489–1534) was commissioned by Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, around 1532. It belongs to a cycle of paintings depicting the amorous adventures of the Greek god Zeus, who assumed various different forms to obtain the objects of his desire.

Numerous ancient myths tell of Zeus’s love affairs, and his metamorphoses into animals, men and even objects in their pursuit. Of the many different versions of the myth of Leda and the Swan, Correggio adopted the best-known for his painting.

Leda was the daughter of Thestius, the king of Aetolia, and the wife of the king of Sparta, Tyndareus. Here we see her bathing beside a grove of trees on the banks of the River Eurotas.

Suddenly, Zeus approaches Leda in the form of a swan and seduces her. His beak tenderly nuzzles her chin.

Two other young women are bathing in the river. They might be Leda’s companions; it is also possible, however, that these are other episodes from the same story.

A swan approaches a young woman as she bathes. Startled, she draws back.

Another bather is being dried by her maid, while the latter looks up at the sky...

…watching a swan as it flies away.

Meanwhile, Cupid (or Amor), the youthful, winged god of love, plays a lyre, the instrument of Apollo, god of music.

Next to him, two little putti play wind instruments.

This painting comes down to us after an eventful history. It has passed through the hands of such famous people as Frederick the Great and Napoleon.

Earlier owners include the French regent, Duke Philippe of Orléans. His son, Louis, found the depiction of Leda so indecent that he cut the painting up in a fit of religious frenzy.

Louis gave the pieces to his court painter and curator of his collection, Charles Coypel, and allowed him to piece it back together and restore it. Later, another painter, Jacques-François Delyen, restored the head of Leda.

Frederick the Great acquired the painting in 1755 for his gallery at Sanssouci. When Napoleon had it brought to Paris in 1806, Pierre-Paul Prud’hon restored the head of Leda once again.

Its most recent restoration – or repainting – was by Jakob Schlesinger in 1830, after the painting was transferred back to Berlin. Today, Correggio’s Leda and the Swan is one of the highlights of the Gemäldegalerie at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.