(Siena? circa 1487 - after 1525)
Leda with the Swan and her children,
oil on panel, 69 x 130 cm, framed

The painter Andrea Piccinelli, called Brescianino, is first documented in Siena in 1507 working in the confraternity of the Compagnia di San Gerolamo. Although he was based in Siena, the art of nearby Florence was an important stylistic influence on his painting.

The present picture was possibly intended as a headboard for a marital bed, and it depicts the erotically-charged mythological story of Leda and the Swan. The myth tells of how Zeus, disguised as a swan, seduces the beautiful Leda, wife of King Tyndareus of Lacedaemon. As a result of their union, Leda gave birth to the twins Helen and Polydeuces, while at the same time bearing Clytemnestra and Castor, the son and daughter of Tyndareus. In this unusual composition only three of the four children are included.

The theme of Leda and the swan was not unfamiliar to humanists at the time. A popular motif in classical antiquity, the subject enjoyed a revitalised interest in Cinquecento Italian painting as artists explored its overtly sensual nature. Two of the most celebrated compositions that emerged out of Italy at the time were painted by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, both of which are now lost and are only known through drawings, copies or engravings.

The style of the present picture displays many compositional similarities to the few known secular subjects by the artist. One example, sold at auction (sale, Christie’s, London, 13 December 2000, lot 60) shows the goddess Venus reclining in an almost identical position, her hand resting on top of one of two putti. Both compositions present the female figure acknowledging the viewer’s gaze, as she leans on her right arm, her frame taking up a large portion of the pictorial space.