Leda2.0102_Helpert

A young woman in dark clothing looks intently at the viewer, with a large blue planet and a rocket launch in the background.

Consider comparison to W.B. Yeats's "Leda and the Swan" , THE classic summary of this moment's disastrous results: the breech of Troy's walls, the sack of Troy, and Agamemnon's fatal return.

Maurizio refers to classical and modern dichotomies in Leda myths — violent assault or consensual union? (E.g. Yeats vs. Laurencin) Leda's posturing in DaSesto's painting suggests that the aftermath of their union at least could have been pleasant.

LOTS of treatments have been done, many distasteful. Want a tricky one to analyze? Try Constantin Brancusi's abstract sculpture (1920) Leda2.0100_Brancusi.

A funerary relief from 5th-century Egypt (Ashmolean AN1970.403) shows the myth used in a Christian context: the celebration of a chaste woman's fertility.

Cézanne's Leda plays an important intertextual role in Netflix "IO" (J. Helpert, dir.; 2019) Leda2.0102_Helpert