Leda and the Swan (Leonardo)

Leda and the Swan was a composition of the Greek myth of Leda and Zeus in swan form, developed by Leonardo da Vinci between about 1503 and 1510 through preparatory drawings and, by 1508, a finished painting. The painted version was last recorded in the French royal collection at Fontainebleau in 1625, described in poor condition with its wooden panels split apart, and is believed to have later been deliberately destroyed on grounds of its subject matter. No original painting survives, but Leonardo's own drawings and numerous copies by his students, including Giampietrino and Cesare da Sesto, preserve the composition.