The story of Leda and the Swan was the subject of two compositions by Leonardo da Vinci from perhaps 1503âÂÂ1510. Neither survive as paintings by Leonardo, but there are a number of drawings for both by him, and copies in oils, especially of the second composition, where Leda stands.
Leonardo began making studies in 1504 for a painting, apparently never executed, of Leda seated on the ground with her children. Three sketches of Leda by Leonardo exist:
It has been proposed that Leonardo's Chatsworth sketch for Leda and the Swan (pictured) may have been inspired by the Laocoön Group, the ancient sculpture discovered in 1506: there is a similar twist to the subject's body; the curve of the swan's neck recalls the snake's lithe body in Laocoön's hand; the rape by Zeus evokes the forceful attack of the serpents; and the child next to Leda's knee resembles Laocoön's son on the right, who also has a sheer break at the wrist. A completed copy of Kneeling Leda with her Children by Giampietrino is kept at the Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel, Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Kassel (c.1515/20, oil on wood, 128 x 106 cm).
In 1508 Leonardo painted a different composition of the subject known as Leda and the Swan which depicted a nude standing Leda cuddling the swan, with the two sets of infant twins and their huge broken egg-shells. The painting is lost, probably deliberately destroyed, and was last recorded in the French royal Château de Fontainebleau in 1625 by Cassiano dal Pozzo:
The picture is known from many copies, of which the earliest are probably the Spiridon Leda, perhaps by a studio assistant and now in the Uffizi, and the one by Cesare da Sesto at Wilton House in England. Other copies by Leonardeschi include:
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