Giulio Campagnola

Engraving, early C16

Leda stares blankly straight up at the sky, whilst holding the neck of the swan with one hand, whilst the other is on her thigh behind the bird (who is the God Jupiter in one of his lustful transformations). She is carefully but stiffly drawn, and the artist lacks the ability to make clear her attitude to what is happening, or to enable us to trust that this ambiguity is deliberate on his part. The identity of the artist remains uncertain (see below).

Has she placed herself so that she can lean back on the tree stump, whilst supporting the bird’s rump with one hand and caressing his neck with the other? Or is her head bent back in an attempt to keep his beak away from her face, whilst she tries to pull his neck away? Does the blankness of her expression come from pleasure or horror? It is impossible to be sure, which is what gives the image much of its force.

Considering the context of the period, it is most likely, both on the grounds of decorum, and because in most renderings of the story Leda accepts the advances of the swan (seduced by his singing in some accounts), that the print intended to show a scene of mutual passion, or to leave Leda’s feelings ambiguous. But we cannot tell this from the image alone. An enigmatic uncertainty as to meaning often appears in the work of Giorgione and his followers, but here strong emotion on the part of Leda seems inevitable; we just cannot be sure what it is. This ambiguity may be designed to reduce the likelihood of challenges to the image on moral grounds.

The subject, known to the Renaissance mainly through the classical poets, notably Ovid, and small carvings, was a dangerous one to represent on a detailed scale. This may be why the print has no monogram or signature. The smaller print media were safer for such images. Only a handful of copies of this print have survived, although all of Campagnola’s prints are very rare – fewer than ten impressions survive of most of them.

The text of the famously enigmatic book Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, published in Venice in 1499, describes a triumphal procession of Leda (Ch14), and the woodcut illustration shows Leda and the Swan in a similar pose on top of their triumphal car. The composition of the two figures in our print is presumably derived from this, although in the earlier image Leda kisses the swan’s beak, and he is further away from her. The book was published by Aldus Manutius, who mentioned Campagnola in his will fifteen years later. These are among the earliest Renaissance images of artistic ambition showing sex in progress to survive (there is another print by Palumba of Leda and the Swan which was created by 1503).

The two most famous paintings of Leda and the Swan, by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, both later disappeared in France – probably destroyed on moral grounds - but good copies of them survive. In the Leonardo, a standing Leda cuddles the Swan/god whilst around them their four children clamber out of huge eggs. As in this print, however, Leda seems to avert her face from the swan’s beak. In the Michelangelo, which like this print shows the mating in progress, Leda seems an entirely willing lover, who kisses the tip of the swan’s beak.

The Leonardo painting dates from 1508, although he produced studies for a different composition of the subject in 1504-5. The Michelangelo dates from 1530, well after this print was created. Another later Leda painting by Correggio, now in Berlin, was also later deliberately damaged in France on moral grounds.

In Greek mythology, Leda was the daughter of Theseus, King of Crete, and became Queen of Sparta. Her four children by Zeus were Helen of Troy, Clytemnestra, who married King Agamemnon of Mycaenae, and the heroes Castor and Pollux, who were placed in the sky as the constellation Gemini (Latin for “twins”). Some accounts made only Helen and Pollux the children of Zeus, and the other two fathered by her husband King Tyndareus, by whom she also had three daughters, including Phoebe. Three of the earliest Greek poets, Homer, Sappho, and Pindar refer to different versions of the myth, which clearly was a very ancient one. Clytemnestra was the mother of Iphigeneia, Orestes, Chrysothemis and Electra, so from the mating of Leda and Zeus came many of the central figures in Greek epic poetry and tragedy.

Art historians who have discussed this print agree that it belongs to the Venetian school. Bartsch thought it an early work by Agostino Musi, called Veneziano. A.M. Hind thought it most likely an early work by Giulio Campagnola, citing in particular “the treatment of the ground, the modelling of the figure, and the tree-stump”. Mark J Zucker, in The Illustrated Bartsch, rejects emphatically the attribution to Campagnola, and thinks it could be by Agostino Veneziano. He argues that the borrowings from Dürer are indirect, rather than direct copying as in Campagnola’s other early prints.

If by Campagnola the print must date from well before his only dated print, the Astrologer of 1509, which is clearly a much more accomplished work. Probably it would be from some time in the period 1500-1505. The wings of the Swan may be in emulation of Dürer’s Nemesis of 1501-2, or his Coat of Arms with a Skull of 1503. If by Veneziano, who was eight years younger, it would probably date from about 1512-3.

Veneziano’s earliest prints were mostly copies of prints by Dürer and Campagnola. But why he should want to imitate Campagnola’s earliest style is unclear.

In favour of the attribution to Campagnola it may be said that the 15 engravings certainly by him show great variety in style and technique, and consistent innovation in his choice and treatment of subjects. The depiction of the ground by undulating parallel lines, giving way to barer pebbled areas edged by dots and flicks, derives from Dürer, and is very similar to that used by Campagnola, for example in Saturn, which of the prints certainly by him is closest to this one in style.

Many of Campagnola’s prints include animals, depicted in very different styles, but always powerfully realized. He also liked to include over-complicated buildings in the background of his prints. Most of the figures, and indeed the animals, in Campagnola’s original compositions are sitting or lying down, and several of his prints (for example Saturn and the Astrologer) show that drawing the figure did not come easily to him.

The crudity of the execution of many of the buildings and especially the hills behind them – with all the trees lined along the crests - is the weakest element in the print, and hard to reconcile with Campagnola, or indeed the rest of the print. Possibly he was dissatisfied with the plate and let someone else finish it. Two later engravings of his were unfinished by him, one of which was finished by Domenico, his pupil and adopted son, though probably not until after Giulio’s death.

The two swimmers, or divers, are a charming and ambitious element, which almost comes off. The depiction of bodies in and under water, still less swimming, is rarely successful at this date. Their extremities disappear under the water, but all their torsos appear to stay above. The depiction of the ripples spreading away from them is probably a genuine innovation.

The upper figure seems Mantegna-esque in spirit, and a reference to the two prints of the Battle of the Sea Gods designed by him was probably intended. The figure below is appears to be conceived quite differently, in outline only, but when enlarged can be seen to be lightly modelled with only the edges of his blonde, or wet, hair described. The inclusion of two relatively nearby figures swimming for pleasure moves the image significantly towards the pastoral genre.

Size of reproduction:
165 x 196 mm, 6 3/4 x 7 11/16 inches

Print price:
£35    €50    $55

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© The Trustees of the British Museum 2006 PD 1845-8-25-802