ClassificationsGreek and Roman Art
Leda and the Swan
CultureRoman
PeriodImperial
Date1st-2nd Century CE
Credit LineCarlos Collection of Ancient Art
Dimensions33 1/2 x 11 x 7 1/4 in. (85.1 x 27.9 x 18.4 cm)
Object number1999.011.008
Label TextLeda, wife of Tyndareus, king of Sparta, was mother of four children: Klytaimnestra (later wife of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae), Helen (of Troy, wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta, and Paris, prince of Troy), and the twin Dioskuroi (Kastor and Polydeukes). Of these, at least Helen and the Dioskuroi were the children not of Tyndareus, but of Zeus, who visited Leda disguised as a swan.In this composition, Leda cradles the body of the swan (of which only traces survive) under her right arm, while the swan extends his neck to her left breast. Her half-draped body owes much to the exploration of female sexuality in Aphrodite. The original version was cast in bronze in the fourth century BC.
Exhibition HistoryMCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 2004 - August 26, 2013
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 25, 2013 - September 8, 2014
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 24, 2014 - Present
Published ReferencesMCCM Newsletter, March - May 2000.
Robert H. Tykot, et al. "Analysis of Classical Marble Sculptures in the Michael C. Carlos Museum, Emory University, Atlanta," in ASMOSIA XI: Interdisciplinary Studies on Ancient Stone, ed. Daniela Matetic Poljak and Katja Marasovic (Split: University of Split, 2018), 502, figure 5.
ProvenanceEx private collection, Paris, France, acquired 1950s, possibly in Tunisia. With Jean-Luc Chalmin, Zurich, Swizterland, from ca. 1984. Purchased by MCCM from Chalmin.
Status
On viewCollections
- Greek and Roman Art
4th-5th Century CE
late 1st-2nd Century CE
1st Century BCE-1st Century CE
1st-2nd Century CE
4th Century BCE
1st Century BCE
mid 14th Century BCE
5th Century BCE
1st-3rd century CE
3rd Century CE
