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According to myth, Zeus, king of the gods, fell madly in love with Leda, wife of the king of Sparta. He surprised her in the form of a swan as she was bathing at the river's edge. From the union and that with her mortal husband, Leda hatched four children from eggs: Castor and Pollux, Clytemnestra and Helen of Troy. Here, the voluptuous queen, clothed only in a clinging, diaphanous gown that reveals her figure, is courted by a rather small swan. A splendid example of the terra-cotta art famous in antiquity, this charming piece delights the senses even in a modern world that no longer believes such tales. - (P.4372)
Sculpture
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