Identifier: antonioallegrida00ricc (find matches)
Title: Antonio Allegri da Correggio, his life, his friends, and his time
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Ricci, Corrado, 1858-1934
Subjects: Correggio, 1489?-1534
Publisher: New York : C. Scribner's Sons
Contributing Library: Harold B. Lee Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Brigham Young University

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relieved against a drapery of white linen. With one arm she sup-ports herself against the mound ; the other is laid over the wing ofthe swan, who nestles with outstretched neck against her breast. Thehead is a respectable attempt, when we consider the difficulty ofworking upon a canvas of Correggios. But the smile is cold andaffected, and has none of the spiritual exaltation that illumines thefaces of the Io and the Dande. It is a question whether it might notbe well to repaint the head from the old copy at Madrid.1 The painter has by no means kept very strictly to the letterof the myth. Leda, the daughter of Thespius, King of /Etolia,and wife of Tyndarus, King of Sparta, was beloved by Jupiter, whotransformed himself into a swan, and surprised her bathing in thewaters of Eurotas, taking shelter in her breast as if flying from thepursuit of his accomplice, Venus, under the form of an eagle. 1 Pedro de Madrazo, Catalogo de los quadras del Museo del Prado de Madrid, p. 139.Madrid, 1876.
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THE GANYMEDE IN THE VIENNA GALLERY 3*9 In Correggios version, the incident is not confined to Leda.The nymphs who have been her companions in the bath are seenin the background, sporting with other swans who pursue themin the water. Two tiring-women, completely dressed, appear on thebank. One, in a blue robe, leans her hands on the mound, and gazessmilingly at the scene. The other, who is dressed in red, is aboutto throw a white drapery over a nymph who emerges from thewater. The strains of music add to the pleasures of the hour.Cupid has laid aside his quiver to play a lyre, and two putti infront of him are blowing rude horns, one seated on the ground,the other erect, in an attitude of infantine self-importance thatprovokes a smile. Even in its present state, the richness of the composition, thenumber and variety of the figures, and the beauty of the landscapemake this picture the most remarkable of Correggios mythologicalsubjects. The feminine forms have the grace of early youth, to

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