Leda and the Swan

Eroticism

The historian Procopius, in his Secret History, claims that the Roman Empress Theodora performed a reproduction of this myth in her youth in the early sixth century CE, though this account is heavily disputed due to biases against women and actresses. The subject's 16th-century popularity owed to the paradox that depicting a woman copulating with a swan was considered more acceptable than with a man. Early depictions showed the pair love-making with more explicitness than any human pair by high-quality artists of the period.

The fate of the erotic album I Modi later demonstrated why this was so. The theme remained dangerous in the Renaissance, as the fates of the three best-known paintings on the subject show. The earliest depictions were in the private medium of old master prints, mostly from Venice, often based on Ovid's brief account in the Metamorphoses, which does not imply a rape. Lorenzo de' Medici owned a Roman sarcophagus and an antique carved gem of the subject, both with reclining Ledas.

The earliest known explicit Renaissance depiction is a woodcut in Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (1499), showing Leda and the Swan making love on a triumphal car surrounded by a crowd. An engraving by Giovanni Battista Palumba (1503) shows coitus in deserted countryside. Palumba made another engraving (c. 1512) showing Leda seated with her children. Significant depictions also appeared in smaller decorative arts, such as a medallion by Benvenuto Cellini and a medal by Antonio Abondio.

In painting

A fresco of Leda and the Swan was unearthed at Pompeii in 2018. Another fresco from the House of the Citarist (I.4.5/25), dating to the first century CE, is housed in the Naples Archaeological Museum. Leonardo da Vinci began studies in 1504 for a painting of Leda seated with her children, but in 1508 he painted a different composition of a nude standing Leda cuddling the Swan with infant twins and eggshells. The original is lost, possibly deliberately destroyed, last recorded at Fontainebleau in 1625; it is known from copies such as the Spiridon Leda in the Uffizi and one at Wilton House.

Michelangelo's tempera painting of the pair making love, commissioned in 1529 by Alfonso d'Este, was taken to France in 1532 and was at Fontainebleau in 1536; it is also lost, probably deliberately destroyed. His cartoon survived for over a century and was used for copies. The composition is known from an engraving by Cornelis Bos (c. 1563), a marble sculpture by Bartolomeo Ammanati, copies by Rubens, and a painting after Michelangelo (c. 1530) in the National Gallery, London.

The Michelangelo composition shows Mannerist elongation and twisted pose. A sculptural group similar to the Prado Roman group was believed until at least the 19th century to be by Michelangelo.

In poetry

Ronsard wrote a poem on La Défloration de Lède, perhaps inspired by Michelangelo, imagining the beak going into Leda's mouth. William Butler Yeats composed the sonnet 'Leda and the Swan' in 1923, first published in the Dial in June 1924 and later in the collection 'The Cat the Moon and Certain Poems' in 1924. Combining psychological realism with a mystic vision, it describes the swan's rape of Leda and alludes to the Trojan War and the births of Helen, Castor, Pollux, and Clytaemnestra.

Camille Paglia called it 'the greatest poem of the twentieth century.' Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío's 1892 poem 'Leda' contains an oblique description of the rape watched over by Pan. H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) wrote a poem called 'Leda' in 1919, suggested to be from Leda's perspective, making the sexual action seem almost beautiful as if she gave consent. Lou Reed's song 'Power and Glory' from his 1992 album Magic and Loss references the myth in the context of seeing a friend dying of cancer.

Sylvia Plath alludes to the myth in her 1962 radio play Three Women, where a student mentions 'the great swan, with its terrible look' and repeats 'I wasn't ready.'

In fashion

In 1935, Marlene Dietrich wore a Leda costume designed by Travis Banton to a Hollywood costume party. The white tulle and feather dress featured a thigh-slit, a mid-length train, a fabric and feather swan neck coiling around her neck, and large feathered wings. In 2001, Björk wore a dress by Marjan Pejoski at the Academy Awards, consisting of nude mesh and a white tulle skirt that narrowed upward into a swan neck coiling around the wearer's neck, exactly like Dietrich's 1935 dress.

Björk's dress attained cult status instantly and became an icon of red carpet culture, though the reference to Dietrich's costume was rarely mentioned. In June 2021, Maria Grazia Chiuri for Dior designed a collection inspired by Hellenistic culture and shown at the Panathenaic Stadium in Athens. The closing piece was a Leda-inspired swan dress. Its visual similarity to Björk's dress sparked excitement, but Dior defended it as a recreation of Marlene Dietrich's costume, noting that Dietrich was a loyal Dior client.

Chiuri's dress featured feathered swan wings spanning the chest and shoulder, taken directly from Dietrich's 1935 costume, setting it apart from Björk's dress.

Did You Know?

• Cy Twombly's abstract version of Leda and the Swan (1962) sold for $52.9 million at Christie's in May 2017.
• A life-sized marble statue of Leda and the Swan is at the Jai Vilas Palace Museum in Gwalior, India.
• The 2017 novel Strange Heart Beating by Eli Goldstone was inspired by both the myth and the Yeats sonnet.