Leda and the Swan
Cesare da Sesto, 1510
This panel shows Leda, a figure from Greek mythology, beside the swan into which Zeus transformed himself to seduce her, a subject that Renaissance painters returned to often. The work is in tempera grassa on wood and is dated to around 1510-1520; it is now in the Galleria Borghese in Rome. It is probably by Cesare da Sesto, an artist from Leonardo da Vinci's circle, rather than by Leonardo himself. Its main interest lies in the fact that it is considered one of the three best surviving copies of Leonardo's lost Leda and the Swan, alongside the versions at Wilton House and the Uffizi. These copies help us reconstruct the original composition with reasonable confidence: the female figure in a twisting, serpentine pose, the interplay of gazes, and the handling of drapery and flesh that defines the Leonardesque style. The picture thus stands as evidence of how the ideas of great masters circulated and were reinterpreted in workshops of the period.
- Painter
- Cesare da Sesto
- Date
- 1510
- Medium
- wood
- Dimensions
- 112 × 86 cm
- Museum
- Galleria Borghese, Paris
- Genre
- mythological painting
- Depicts
- nudity, mons pubis, pubic hair removal, Leda, hipshot, Zeus, swan, navel
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