Jupiter et Io

Around 1530 the Duke of Mantua, Federico Gonzaga, ordered a set of paintings of the loves of Jupiter, meant as a gift for the Emperor Charles V. This is one of them. It shows the god seducing the nymph Io, and Correggio does something strange and daring. He hides Jupiter almost entirely inside a dark cloud, so that Io is being embraced by grey vapour. Look closely and a shadowy face surfaces at her cheek, and a smoky hand curls around her back. The painting later fell into the hands of the Regent of France, and his son, a devout and troubled man, took a knife to these mythological nudes. Its companion piece was slashed apart. This one survived, passed on through emperors, and hangs today in Vienna beside another canvas from the same series.