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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Al Kowsky, post: 3580807, member: 97383&quot;]Another excellent article by Jochen1 <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />! Of all the Greek myths none have been told more or have inspired more art from ancient times to the present than <b>Leda and the Swan</b>. During the Renaissance period the Roman Catholic Church reviled the myth as erotic blasphemy &amp; with great zeal located &amp; destroyed as many paintings of this subject as they could find. Leonardo da Vinci was a target of the Pope after completing two paintings of this famous myth. Leonardo&#039;s versions of <b>Leda and the Swan</b>, both show a nude Leda cuddling a swan with four large broken eggs on the ground with babies emerging from the fragments <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie57" alt=":jawdrop:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. Both of these paintings were copied before the Church had them destroyed <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie85" alt=":smuggrin:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. The most famous version is shown below in a copy by Caesare da Sesto, circa 1510. </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]955317[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>About 15 years ago I bought a small collection of Chinese snuff bottles from a collector in Rochester, NY. I sold all the bottles from that group except the one pictured below. It is 3.5 inches tall &amp; painted on the <u>inside</u> thru a small opening at the top of the bottle with a version of Leonardo&#039;s painting as seen above. The Chinese mastered this mystifying technique during the 19th century, &amp; the best of these bottles could take up to a month to complete. My bottle was made in the 2nd half of the 20th century by a gifted Chinese student of Western art. The back side of the bottle has a painting of Venus &amp; Cupid.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]955333[/ATTACH] </p><p>[ATTACH=full]955334[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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