Leda y el cisne

Leonardo da Vinci painted a Leda and the Swan and then lost it. His original was last recorded at Fontainebleau in the 1620s, already splitting apart on its panels, and it has never been seen since. What survives are copies by artists close to him, and this one, made around 1510 and usually given to his follower Cesare da Sesto, is counted among the finest. It shows the Spartan queen Leda standing with the swan, the disguise the god Jupiter took to seduce her, while their children hatch from eggs at her feet. The strange twisting pose and the tender lowered head come straight from Leonardo. Because his own version is gone, pictures like this are the closest we can now get to what he actually made.