Leda and the Swan

Cesare da Sesto's Leda and the Swan from around 1510 is a copy or adaptation of a lost Leonardo composition, one of the master's most innovative treatments of classical mythology in which Jupiter assumes the form of a swan to seduce the Spartan queen Leda, mother of Helen of Troy and the Dioscuri. Leonardo's Leda was one of the most discussed and copied paintings of the sixteenth century, and Cesare's version is among the most important surviving reflections of the lost original. Cesare was one of the most gifted painters to work in Leonardo's circle, absorbing the master's atmospheric technique and psychological subtlety while developing his own more classically composed manner. His copy of the Leda serves both as evidence for Leonardo's composition and as a painting of independent quality, demonstrating his mastery of the Leonardesque manner.

The smooth, Leonardesque sfumato and the sinuous pose of Leda demonstrate Cesare's close study of Leonardo's technique, with the soft modeling and atmospheric landscape reflecting the lost original's qualities.