STANLEY WOODS’ CRITTERS: Mute Swan Stories
Leda and the Swan

Mute Swan
Cygnus olor

Leda and the Swan
Marble, unknown sculptor; after Timotheos. Rome, A.D. 1 - 100.
Height: 52 inches

Found in 1775 in Rome, this statue is a Roman copy of an earlier Greek statue from the 300s B.C. The heavy folds of cloth both conceal and reveal the female body, consistent with sculpture of the 300s B.C.when female nudity in art was still unacceptable. Obviously popular in Rome, about two dozen copies of this statue have been found.