Nice painting in colored pencil on parchment paper depicting the myth of Leda and the swan.

Central Italy, 1700

Dimensions: 39x31cm

with frame: 49.5x41.5cm

According to Greek mythology, Leda, queen of Sparta and mother of Clytemnestra and Helen - the one who would have been the cause of the outbreak of the Trojan war - slept on the banks of a pond, when she was with a white swan, which was the animal in which Zeus had transformed himself to be able to possess it. Leda was stunned by the scent of ragweed and the action of the animal's neck on her body. After the sexual intercourse, Zeus announced that from their union two twins would be born, the Diòscuri: Càstore, great horse tamer, and Pollùce, invincible boxer. Since Castor was mortal and Pollùce immortal, the latter wanted to be mortal for the love of his brother. Zeus, pitying, established that each of them would live one day, alive, on Olympus and the next day, dead, in the Erebus, thus taking over.