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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileLeda and the swan - I modi - Jean Frédéric Maximilien de Waldeck - After Marcantonio Raimondi - Production date 19thC - British Museum 11 of 11
Jean Frédéric Maximilien de Waldeck
Leda is depicted nude, reclining on a stone plinth beneath a large tree. Her left leg is raised, and the swan is positioned between her legs, its neck curving toward her face as their beaks/lips meet. Leda’s hair is braided in a classical style, and her muscular anatomy is heavily defined. The stone plinth features a relief carving of two small children (the Dioscuri) emerging from an egg. In the background, a serene landscape features a calm lake, mountains, and a distant classical structure.
This print is part of Jean Frédéric Maximilien de Waldeck's 19th-century recreation of 'I Modi', a controversial series of erotic positions traditionally attributed to Marcantonio Raimondi after designs by Giulio Romano, which were infamous for their subversive take on classical mythology.
n 90.
Ovid, Metamorphoses
Connects to the classical myth of Zeus seducing Leda in the form of a swan.
Object
lithography
paper
19th century
French
mythological
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
2295 × 1652 px
Linked Data
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