Leda and the Swan

Correggio's Leda and the Swan (c. 1532) at the Gemäldegalerie Berlin depicts Jupiter's seduction of Leda in the form of a swan — one of the most erotically charged of the Loves of Jupiter series for Federico Gonzaga. The painting was among those damaged by Louis d'Orléans who, on moral grounds, had the faces replaced by an assistant before the works were reassembled and restored. The original — partially recovered — shows Correggio's unparalleled ability to depict the female nude with simultaneous sensuous warmth and compositional elegance. The swan's white plumage merging with Leda's pale flesh creates a visual effect of extraordinary beauty that transcends the subject's erotic narrative.

Correggio's mastery of soft, luminous flesh painting reaches its peak here, with the subtle interaction of light on skin and water creating an atmosphere of languid eroticism unlike anything in earlier Italian painting.