Leda after Leonardo da Vinci (auction)

A nude Leda stands in a contrapposto pose, looking down at two large, cracked eggs from which her children—Castor, Pollux, Helen, and Clytemnestra—are emerging. She rests her arm on the wing of a large swan, representing Zeus in disguise, who curves his neck toward her. The scene is set in a lush, darkened landscape that emphasizes the pale skin of the figures and the white plumage of the bird.

Based on a lost composition by Leonardo da Vinci, this motif explores the Neoplatonic theme of the union between the divine (Zeus as swan) and the mortal (Leda). In the Western esoteric tradition, the birth of the Dioscuri from the 'cosmic egg' serves as an allegory for the generation of dualities and the alchemical 'Philosopher's Egg' from which new life and wisdom are hatched.