Leonardo da Vinci's Leda and the Swan Cushion

Leda and the Swan (1505-1510) by artist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) is a vintage Renaissance Era fine art mythological portrait painting. A beautiful woman is standing next to a large, white bird, a swan and two young children are by her feet. Leda and the Swan is a motif from Greek mythology in which Zeus came to Leda in the form of a swan. According to later Greek mythology, Leda bore Helen and Polydeuces, children of Zeus while at the same time bearing Castor and Clytemnestra, children of her husband Tyndareus, the King of Sparta. As the story goes, Zeus took the form of a swan and raped or seduced Leda on the same night she slept with her husband, King Tyndareus. In some versions, she laid two eggs from which the children hatched. In other versions, Helen is a daughter of Nemesis, the goddess who personified the disaster that awaited those suffering from the pride of Hubris.