Tintoretto's Leda

Jacopo Tintoretto Leda the Swan c 1570
Oil on Canvas

Two portrayals of this painting exist. This one the early and the latter almost the same but omits the servant. Since this i interpreration s a comparative analysis of different artist interpretations of Leda and the Swan I will discuss the first and not the latter.

Tintoretto's leda is one of my personal favorites, here were are inside perhaps Leda's bedroom, where Leda is protecting or defending the swan. It illustrates perhaps the moment after the rape occurred.

In an Unknow Tinrotetto article by August L Mayer from the Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs courtesy of JSTOR,  The details of the brush strokes describe the color scheme with the characteristic flesh tints set against the splendidly contrasting tones of the red and green drapery. The figure of leda is similar to that of Danae in lyons, in which the same model seems to be depicted in reverse. (END CITATION)

Titans Danae

Tintoretto warped the normal depiction of Leda by bringing her in the house. Most of the other works in existance show the pair outside. Her body language and pose imply that she is protecting the swan. As legend goes an eagle threatened to carry away the swan. Here the eagle is manifested in the servant.

In contrast to Leondardo's or Michelangelo's, Tintoretto's lavish landscape is juxtaposed agianst an act of courage on the part of Leda. No children are in the painting so I assume that this is pre sex.