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The fantastical tales of Classical
mythology detail
a great number of unusual amorous
couplings.
Zeus, king of the gods, was known to
often
change his form in order to satisfy his
physical
desires while averting his wife’s
suspicion. So
the stories are told of Zeus turning
into a bull, an
eagle, or even something as abstract as
a shower
of gold in order to attain the objects
of his
desire. But perhaps no metamorphosis is
quite
as endearing as the legend of Leda and
the Swan,
a myth that has proved perfect fodder
for
painters, sculptors, and poets both in
antiquity
and again in the Renaissance and
afterwards.
Leda was the wife of Tyndareus, the king
of
Sparta, and the mother to many noble
children,
including the famous beauty Helen, the
heroine
Clytemnestra, and the twins Castor and
Polydeuces. However, while Helen was
the
mother of all these children, her
husband was
not the father of all. Enter Zeus. One
day while
bathing, Leda caught the eyes of Zeus
who
quickly transformed himself into a swan.
He
arranged for an eagle to attack him in
swan form,
invoking Leda’s empathy. After the
aerial battle
subsided, Leda approached the wary swan
and
comforted it by placing her arms around
the
bird, not realizing that this animal was
really the
most powerful god. According to legend,
this
union produced the infamous beauty
Helen,
whose abduction by Paris would initiate
the
Trojan War, as well as one or more of
her other
offspring.
In this spectacular bronze rendition of
this
celebrated myth, Leda sits with her head
turned
to the left, grasping the swan by the
neck and
leg. She wears a long cloak that falls
from her
right shoulder, exposing her bare back
and
heightening the inherent eroticism of
the piece.
Her face is remarkably detailed, with
full lips and
eyes complete with indented pupils, and
her hair
is bound in a chignon and crowned by a
diadem,
perhaps alluding to her role as Queen of
Sparta.
These details on the swan are equally as
stunning, with the texture of the
individual
feathers of his wings carefully incised.
This
masterpiece of ancient Roman bronze
sculpture
is a gorgeous rendition of one of the
most
popular mythological subjects. The
circular
composition is filled with movement,
capturing
the moment when Zeus’ true intentions
are
revealed.
- (X.0107)
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