Leda and the Swan

Michel Anguier

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This statue was probably made for Nicolas Fouquet, the finance minister of Louis XIV. It is believed to have belonged to a series of fourteen ancient gods and goddesses originally displayed in the gallery of Fouquet's Château de Saint-Mandé. 1970.140 combines a composition based upon a classical Leda, contemporary Parisian features, and reflections of Leonardo's Leda and the Swan and Rosso Fiorentino's Loss of Youth in the Gallery of François I at Fontainebleu.

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The fifty thousand objects in the Museum's comprehensive and historically important collection of European sculpture and decorative arts reflect the development of a number of art forms in Western European countries from the early fifteenth through the early twentieth century. The holdings include sculpture in many sizes and media, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, metalwork and jewelry, horological and mathematical instruments, and tapestries and textiles. Ceramics made in Asia for export to European markets and sculpture and decorative arts produced in Latin America during this period are also included among these works.

Metropolitan Museum of Art