LEDA AND THE SWAN
Leda was a Spartan Queen who was visited by Zeus in the form of a great swan and seduced/ravished/raped. The product of that union was Helen (of Troy fame). Also from that union come brothers Castor and Pollux and sister Clytemnestra. The subject of Leda and the Swan is a traditional one among figurative artists because theoretically the languid forms of the swan are harmonious with the curves of the feminine, but also the neck of the swan is very phallic. It can be an opportunity to be very sexually explicit or it can simply delight in the rhythms of the forms. Curiously, because it is a God, it never seems to be about bestiality.
On a personal note, in my novel Triptych, it was Leda and the Swan that the three artists used as a common theme for their triptych, so they each struggled to find their own composition for the problem.
HISTORICAL LEDA
| Pompeii |
|
Rubens |
|
Veronese |
|
Klimt |
|
| Leonardo |
|
Tintorretto |
|
Correggio |
|
Cezanne |
|
| Michelangelo |
|
Pontormo |
|
Boucher |
|
Icart |
|
| Raphael |
|
Titian |
|
Gaugin |
|
Rapiti |
|
MY OWN LEDA EFFORTS
PAINTING ATTEMPTS
The previous two versions have less than two hours between them and the changes are very slight, but I thought it interesting to show the differences.
FINISHED PAINTING
SKETCHES AND SCHEMES
