Leda and the Swan (Correggio)

Leda sits by the water as the swan - Jupiter in disguise - nestles against her, the story told in stages across the canvas: the swan arriving, the tender union at the center, the bird departing into the sky at the right, with nymphs and music-making putti all around. From the union will come Helen of Troy. Correggio's idyllic woodland and melting sensuality look ahead to the Rococo. One of his Loves of Jupiter for Federico Gonzaga - Leda's head was later cut out by a scandalized owner and repainted - it joins the Danae and the Jupiter and Io also in this collection.