Leda and the swan

Leda was the wife of Tyndareus, ruler of Sparta. She was yet one more mortal woman to whom Zeus was attracted, and he visited her in the form of a swan.

From their union two couples of twins were born: the first couple of twins were Castor and Polydeuces known as the Dioskouroi, the second one Helen and Clytemnestra.

This myth attracted the attention of painters since the Classical period as in a white-ground vase painting that I quoted in my work.

In the renaissance period Leonardo and Michelangelo painted this subject, unfortunately both their paintings went lost, so today we know them only through reproduction by other painters like Rosso Fiorentino, Rubens, Tintoretto, Raphael and many more. In modern art this myth inspired artist like Salvador Dali