Censoring Leda
The dilemma of what artwork is acceptable
I’m always discovering paintings I never knew existed or trying to bring lesser-known artwork to the forefront, so that the artist behind the work can have a moment in the spotlight.
Using Reddit, I’ve been posting a few of Francesco Melzi’s paintings since Leonardo da Vinci often overshadows him, and Melzi deserves recognition beyond being Leonardo’s executor and favorite pupil in his final years.
Melzi wasn’t a prolific artist but still produced some high-quality artworks, like Flora, Vertumnus and Pomona, and a copy of Leonardo’s Leda and the Swan. Of these, it’s the last that astonished me when it was deleted from r/museum on Reddit without any warning or explanation.
I was told that it was because I formatted the information incorrectly. Still, I found this hard to believe, especially considering how artworks like The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife and Edouard-Henri Avril’s taboo illustrations from De figuris Veneris were posted without any problems.
Melzi’s Leda was nowhere near as erotic. Yet, it was deleted for no plausible explanation, because if erotic art’s okay to post, why is it difficult to post a painting depicting the myth of Leda and the Swan?
So, I decided to experiment. I posted Rubens’ copy of Michelangelo’s version of the subject. I was downvoted like no tomorrow and accused of supporting the “glorification and romanticization of rape.”
This took me by surprise because other Greek mythological paintings dealing with Zeus’ conquests were posted without any problem. Even searching for Leda and the Swan on there brought up artworks by Boucher, Spafford, and others.
As an art lover, I’ll admit there are a few erotic paintings I admire because they remind me of who I love in an intimate expression/way. Yet, this obvious double standard made me realize there was a stigma of sorts behind Renaissance depictions of Leda’s seduction.
From what I’ve learned, the myth of Leda and the Swan emerged with an erotic overtone during the Renaissance, especially in Italy. According to Malcolm Bull, the myth of Leda and the Swan is vague about what exactly happens, but what’s clear is that Zeus “mounted” Leda as a swan.
Usually, artists depicted Leda standing with the swan, but Renaissance artists portrayed Leda reclining, making the most of it. If they had portrayed Zeus as a man, it would’ve run afoul of the authorities, but many in Renaissance Italy believed it was better to see a painting of a woman copulating with a swan than a man.
Of course, these portrayals weren’t for the public eye, so many got away with depicting the only explicit sexual act in all Renaissance art. Yet, as we’ll see below, the three most famous versions of the myth would end up censored in some form or fashion.
Leonardo da Vinci
It might seem surprising to many, but Leonardo is recorded to have painted at least two mythological works- a head of Medusa and Leda and the Swan. According to Giorgio Vasari, the former was created in Leonardo’s youth. It was last seen in Cosimo de Medici’s art collection in the 1560s, while the former was made in the final decade of Leonardo’s life.
Leonardo began making studies for a composition of Leda sitting with her children around 1503–4 during his second Florentine period. Yet, the composition must’ve proven disappointing for Leonardo as he abandoned it, and only three sketches survive.
A few years later, Leonardo painted a second version while in Milan. It depicted Leda standing, cuddling the swan with two sets of infant twins amid broken shells on the ground. After Leonardo died in 1519, the painting was bequeathed to his pupil Salai. Following Salai’s death a few years later from a crossbow wound in a duel, Francis I acquired Salai’s collection of Leonardo’s paintings, including Leda and the Swan, for his palace at Fontainebleau.
Leonardo’s Leda remained registered in Fontainebleau’s art inventory until 1692. However, it had begun to deteriorate, as noted by Cassiano del Pozzo in 1625, who described the painting as being split in three places. There is a tale that suggests Louis XIV’s second wife, Madame de Maintenon, ordered the destruction of Leonardo’s painting because she found the work scandalous.
Yet, I don’t find this believable because, unlike the other two Ledas discussed below, Leonardo isn’t graphic in his depiction. Some doubt whether Leonardo completed the painting, but the records make no mention of the painting being incomplete. Given how the variant copies share enough similarities, it is evident that Leonardo produced a complete version of the painting that existed for over a century before vanishing from the historical record.
Unlike most versions of the myth, though, Leonardo doesn’t portray the lust between Leda and Zeus. Instead, he emphasizes the loving nature between Leda, Zeus, and their children. Rather than taking the tired approach of focusing on the sensual aspects of the story, Leonardo puts a spotlight on the intimacy of their relationship.
Leda gazes tenderly at her children, quietly reflecting on their creation and inviting us to be a part of the moment. Unlike most aggressive or triumphant depictions of divine seduction, Leonardo has Leda maintain acceptance of being caught between the moral and godly. There’s a hint of surprise in the work, with Leda affectionately allowing the swan to embrace her with its wings.
One aspect of the work that may not be immediately apparent is the castle in the background. We know from the myth that Tyndareus slept with Leda the night after Zeus had, and of the offspring, Castor and Clytemnestra were his, while Helen and Pollox belonged to Zeus.
Leda lovingly looks at her kids, showing vulnerability in understanding what this union might bring, but strength in how the tenderness of the moment makes the future distant, almost nonexistent. She’s caught between the moral and divine.
The love is evident in her allowing the swan to embrace her with its wings. There’s a hint of pleasure in Leda’s face as she permits the swan's wings to engulf her while coyly turning away from any further intimacy. It’s almost playful and is the clearest indication of eroticism in the entire composition.
Leonardo masterfully displays a perfect balance between love and lust. He hints at the erotic overtones that other works of the era depicted, but focuses more on the gentle aspects, with their children depicted amid the lush nature that Leonardo had a keen eye for.
Swans have long been used in mythology as an illusion to predatory forces, but there’s no indication that Leonardo’s swan is predatory or even violating Leda’s sovereignty. Zeus seems to gaze at Leda more gracefully, contrasting his usual personality of a divine, aggressive womanizer.
For many well-educated men of the Renaissance, Leda represented the human experience of being touched by the divine. Such a story served as inspiration for these men as they frequently indulged in affairs. Perhaps that’s why Leonardo’s painting disappeared and is lost. If those who last saw Leonardo’s version had seen the others below, they might’ve reconsidered their position on how “scandalous” Leonardo’s work was.
Michelangelo
Michelangelo’s version of Leda and the Swan began while he was working on the final stages of the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
In the summer of 1512, Alfonso d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, was in Rome seeking Pope Julius II’s forgiveness after being excommunicated for opposing him in the Italian Wars. During this time, he met Michelangelo and was promised a painting from the artist after a lively conversation.
Michelangelo was in Ferrara in 1529, inspecting fortifications for the Florentine Republic, when Alfonso held Michelangelo to his promise of a commissioned work.
At the time, Alfonso was commissioning pagan subjects from Titian and Giovanni Bellini. Michelangelo, who notoriously viewed Venetian artists as incapable of drawing excellent figures, saw an opportunity to rival them and showcase his belief that if an artist can’t study ancient or modern works to draw as practice, they’re incapable of memorizing or enhancing what they copy from life.
Michelangelo worked on his version of Leda and the Swan through 1530 while hiding amid the Siege of Florence. Upon completing the painting, he presented it to Alfonso, only for the Duke to dismiss Michelangelo’s work as a “little thing.” Incensed, Michelangelo refused to hand over the painting.
The following year, Michelangelo gave the work to Antonio Mini, who took it to France and presented it to Francis I. Francis took the painting to the Palace of Fontainebleau, where it remained for the next century before its eventual disappearance in the final decade of the seventeenth century.
It is said that Anne of Austria ordered its destruction due to its perceived lasciviousness. Yet, inventories of the French Royal Collection show that it still existed in 1683, 17 years after the death of Anne of Austria.
The last known indication of Michelangelo’s painting being in the collection was in 1691, when the Leda was earmarked for burning due to its apparent deterioration, as mentioned by Pierre Don several decades prior. Of the two Leda paintings in the French Royal Collection, it could be speculated that Madame de Maintenon ordered Michelangelo’s to be destroyed over Leonardo’s, based on how explicit a depiction Michelangelo chose to depict.
In his version, Zeus is a swan making love to a reclining Leda, with Castor and Pollux as newborns watching. Michelangelo based the composition on an ancient Roman composition of the subject he studied in his youth.
His Leda reflects his inner sculptor as her athletic body stirs a secret force under the swan’s delicate caresses, but lacks Leonardo’s empathetic mentality and his gentle understanding of human emotions. This is a problem Michelangelo faced in all his paintings because he often modeled his women after men, giving them muscular forms and portraying them as lacking any femininity.
Leonardo retorted that Michelangelo’s figures always resembled a bundle of radishes or a sack of walnuts due to how stiff they appeared. Michelangelo’s Leda is more akin to a hard-edged marble sculpture than a woman eyed by the gods.
Despite this, Michelangelo uses his portrayal as a symbol of corral desire. We see the indications of how Leda’s pleasure is evident in her body language. Her head’s tilted forward, as if participating in a secret conversation with Zeus. She uses her body to pull the swan closer into a cocoon of love and desire.
Like Leonardo, Michelangelo’s Leda is loving toward the swan, showcasing a hint of fondness and tender affection in their consummation of their union. This makes the painting an image of passion and turmoil for the consequences of this union. Yet, also of love in the heat of the moment. Viewing the painting through these lenses makes the scene not a seduction or rape but mutual consent.
Although it's more likely his Leda was destroyed, there might be some hope that Michelangelo’s painting survived until the French Revolution and then disappeared when the royal palaces were emptied of their contents.
Despite my misgivings about Michelangelo, I believe that if his Leda were to turn up and be put on the auction block, it’d become the most expensive painting ever sold because of how rare a painting by Michelangelo is- even more than a painting by Leonardo.
Correggio
Unlike either Leonardo or Michelangelo, Correggio’s version has survived to the present.
Correggio was commissioned to paint his version of Leda and the Swan by Federico II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, as part of a series depicting Zeus’ love affairs. Painted in 1530–31, there’s a debate whether it was intended as a gift for Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, or for Gonzaga’s Ovid Room at Mantua for his mistress.
Get Josh(ua) Bennett’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Entering the Spanish Royal Collection in 1543, it was acquired by Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1603. Swedish forces looting Prague during the Thirty Years' War acquired the painting, only for it to be taken by Christina of Sweden upon her abdication in 1654.
After Christina’s death, the painting became part of the famous Orleans Collection of Philippe II. Still, his devout son attacked the canvas with a knife, irreparably damaging Leda’s face. All of Correggio’s mythological canvases were ordered cut up, but the pieces were saved.
This Leda was sold to Frederick the Great in 1755 and restored. Sadly, the restoration censored Correggio’s original vision by giving her more of a chaste expression than an orgasmic one. They changed Leda’s direction so that it wasn’t twisted backwards, following the direction of her hand guiding the swan, and making it more tame by the conservative standards of the time.
Of all the Leda and the Swan depictions, Correggio’s is my least favorite because there isn’t a singular focus on the story, and it appears that too much is going on all at once.
Looking at the composition, we see eight human figures. Of these, Leda appears thrice and gives a different expression regarding what’s going on. This complicated the depiction of a simple seduction, since it makes Leda appear to push away from the swan, fleeing from Zeus and his advances.
Some argue this is because Correggio decided to depict different time frames all in one setting, but it disrupts the picture since Leda has varying expressions in no particular order. It doesn’t help that it’s not chronological, so it distorts the mind by making it wonder why either Zeus’ arrival or departure wasn’t put on the left side to let the narrative flow better.
Correggio’s decision to put both on one side of the painting makes the mind ignore the left side altogether, as it almost seems irrelevant to the story. But it also makes us realize that if seduction’s the central part, the rest of the work represents the past/future of the myth, especially the future.
If we look at the left of the painting, we see Cupid with two of Leda’s children. The look on Cupid’s face is eerie, almost mocking, because he senses what the consequences of this union will be.
In Renaissance art, Cupid’s presence brings forth ideas of violence. This is because Cupid famously used his arrows to make people fall in love and unleashed all sorts of consequences in the various Greek myths he’s in. Yet, he doesn’t do this with Zeus, since Zeus seduced Leda of his own free will.
Rather, the reason behind Cupid’s menacing appearance in Correggio’s painting is that he’s taunting viewers with the understanding of the war and the deaths that will occur because of the children brought forth from the union.
Of the three paintings, Correggio’s has the best interpretation of Leda and the Swan as a case of rape rather than seduction.
Why the Censorship?
From what we can gather, the tale of Leda and the Swan has always been a subject of controversy, especially in art, dating back to the Roman Emperor Augustus. The poet Ovid ran afoul of the emperor’s religious reforms by graphically alluding to Leda’s seduction and rape in his works.
The reason for the lack of surviving depictions of the myth until the Renaissance is due to Greco-Roman philosophical views on the human body. According to Plotinus, the founder of Neoplatonism, an individual is suspended between mind and matter, but can only be perfected by ascending upward through the mind rather than downward to the material world.
If we consider this, it means that we’re part of the material world, because our bodies act as a prison, separating us from true reality. Our bodies house emotions, like desire, which are considered part of the material world because, as Plotinus argues, “Desire, then, will belong to the body, as the objects of desire are to be enjoyed by the body.”
Plato developed the idea that a person’s true form wasn’t of this world, but could be deduced through reason. He considered the body a prison because our senses harass the soul and, as Socrates argues in Phaedo,
As long as we have this body, and an evil of that sort is mingled with our souls, we shall never fully gain what we desire; and that is truth. For the body is forever taking up our time with the care which it needs, and, besides, whenever diseases attack it, they hinder us in our pursuit of real being. It fills us with passions, and desires, and fears, and all manner of phantoms, and much foolishness: and so, as the saying goes, in very truth we can never think at all for it.
If we are to have any pure knowledge at all, we must be freed from the body; the soul by herself must behold things as they are. ¹
Many Greco-Roman philosophers wanted us to purify ourselves from our bodies to deny lust a chance to prevent us from acquiring knowledge and progressing in controlling ourselves virtuously. According to Musonius Rufus, people sometimes
… pursue one love and sometimes another, and, not being satisfied with those which are available, pursue those which are rare and inaccessible and invent shameful intimacies. ²
Perhaps it's Musonius’s mention of shameful intimacies that could explain the Greco-Roman thought process. Mythology has long been regarded as a reflection of the social values and norms of a particular society. It also serves as the foundation for artistic depictions.
For the Greeks, and later Romans, art was used to show how the Gods ruled the world and how breaking with the religious order by violating taboos ultimately led to tragedy. Many artists of the era exerted their imagination and satisfied the desire for self-expression and appreciation with their works.
Many depictions of Leda were used to showcase the connection between humans and animals, as many myths featured gods transforming into animals to interact with humans. Although some could be considered pornographic, most were designed to project the order and harmony that Greek society believed came from the worship of their pantheon.
The argument of Leda, and other myths, being viewed with a sensual nuance, comes later from Roman depictions, whose deities had less human emotions than their Greek counterparts. Instead, the gods were seen as the manifestation of divine power. Roman religion placed great emphasis on sexuality and considered it part of the natural order in life.
This would’ve horrified the Greeks because they never intended their myths to be interpreted this way. But as seen in Roman history, many emperors and wealthy aristocrats engaged frequently in sex and pleasure, forever painting Roman society as one of decadence and loose morals.
It is this portrayal of Roman society that allowed Christianity to develop a religious asceticism on sexuality and any depictions/expressions of it.
We are told in Genesis 2:21–23 how God created Eve by taking a rib from Adam and called her woman since she came forth from man. Later on, when Eve ate the forbidden fruit and was expelled from the garden, God remarked that he would multiply her pain and make Adam rule over her (3:16). Many medieval biblical scholars used the story of Adam and Eve to argue that a woman is actually the flesh of man and paint their desires as the manifestation of man’s lust because Eve was the one who was tempted by the serpent first. In their eyes, women were the incarnation of sex and desire, more so than men, given the illusions of women and adultery sprinkled throughout Scripture.
This condemnation led to centuries of discrimination and prejudice against women because they were seen as incapable of controlling their sexual desires. Many viewed this as the parent of all evils and a continuation of the Greco-Roman view of their goddesses being associated with sensuality, and, ultimately, the causes of death and war.
However, I find this unfair because it seems medieval thought ignored the fact that in many myths, it was figures like Apollo and Zeus who were responsible for the sexual aspects. The women were mostly unwilling victims or unfairly blamed, while the gods got off scot free. Plus, did they forget about the woman in adultery and Christ’s remark, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7).
This ancient line of thought was challenged during the Renaissance and Enlightenment eras, as humanists sought to liberate people’s minds, bodies, and spirits from the grip of religion. Leda was emancipated from medieval thought and became immersed in the joy of sexual love.
The depictions from this time onward advocated the human nature at the heart of humanism. As one of the enduring subjects in art and literature, Leda and the Swan has always struggled to escape the trap of being considered pornographic, or violent, propaganda of patriarchy. This is because a painting depicts a particular moment in time, but the implications of said depiction can be profound.
Whenever an artist chooses to paint, the scene they decide on is what they find intriguing and imaginative in their eyes. Examining the Leda paintings above, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Correggio all found the myth of Leda and the Swan intriguing to depict, but approached it in different ways. Both Michelangelo and Correggio preferred the Roman view of the divine and intense sexuality, whereas Leonardo took the Greek approach, focusing on the connection between humans, animals, and nature.
Even with all of this nuance, the censorship of Leda has continued down to the present, with The Telegraph publishing a story in 2012 about a gallery taking down a photograph of Leda and the Swan in a modern setting due to fears of it “condoning beastality” despite no public complaints coming from visitors to the museum.
Modern censorship is evident in how Sam Taylor-Wood, director of Fifty Shades of Grey, made a film called That White Rush in 2007, where she acts out the myth as Leda, but the swan’s dead and decomposing, and the setting is moved onto an old hardwood floor. No trace of the film has ever been found, and its existence is confirmed through some stills found online.
Like with the gallery, Taylor-Wood probably had all copies of her video erased to avoid being accused of causing sexual arousal with its portrayal of bestiality. This issue has long been at the heart of the dilemma in depicting the myth of Leda and the Swan, because if someone feels any sexual arousal from an episode of Greek mythology, does it mean all depictions of Greek myths ought to be banned?
We should consider the myth of Leda and the Swan a demonstration of the differences between us and animals, with the hope of liberating us to make the correct ethical choice. We should be aware that the Greco-Roman world never endorsed bestiality, and anyone caught violating animals was punished with death, as it was seen as defiling the gods themselves.
If this is so, why go through the trouble of censoring such a particular myth?
There is no straightforward answer to this question. Some say it's because we live in a society where expressions of human sexuality are still frowned upon. Others think it’s because of the artistic depictions themselves. Neither of these is a good argument, though, because if that’s the case, why are other works similar in either sexual expression or artistic depiction free to be displayed without a fuss?
We live in a time where censorship’s on the rise, and both sides of the coin are looking to control the narrative of what’s acceptable in society. The problem with this is that it causes Pandora’s jar to break open because if X can do this, Y will retaliate in another way.
By censoring a work of art or a subject used in art and literature, those behind the censorship view themselves as having the last word and placing what they disagree with under erasure.
In censoring the story of Leda and the Swan, people are separating the myth from its historical context for their own interpretations. It has the unintended side effect of leading to a misunderstanding or erroneous judgment of Greco-Roman society. The only way to rectify this is to return Leda to its original context of its time, allowing for a more accurate interpretation of the story.
Otherwise, it creates a slippery slope that allows further restrictions on censoring various forms of expression and individuality. Censoring art can stifle an individual’s creativity since art has long been used to push boundaries and provoke discussion. Without this pushback, culture could become stagnant, and nothing original can escape the quagmire.
I support reasonable censorship, but find art to be an expression of creativity. If we censor this medium, what’s stopping other platforms like this from being censored? There’s always going to be a dilemma over what artwork is “acceptable” per se because someone’s always going to find something wrong with a particular style or subject.
However, it doesn’t mean a particular subject should be eradicated because there’s more than one interpretation to a story. Regardless of feeling, the tale of Leda and the Swan continues to intrigue and provoke debate, whether on our relationship with the natural world or if the myth celebrates the brutality of war with its rape and sexual conquest.
It’s a topic where the dilemma of acceptance continues to linger.
Footnotes
¹ The Trial and Death of Socrates, translated by F.J. Church, Macmillan and Co. (1920). Quotes come from Phaedo, pgs. 120–21.
² That One Should Disdain Hardships (The Teachings of a Roman Stoic), translated by Cora E. Lutz, Yale University Press (2020). Quote comes from “On Sexual Indulgence”, page 59.
If you enjoyed this, please subscribe!
