Editing Antonio da Correggio (section)

==Mythological series==
[[File:Antonio Allegri, called Correggio - Jupiter and Io - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|510x510px|''[[Jupiter and Io]]'' (c. 1531) typifies the unabashed eroticism, radiance, and cool, pearly colors associated with Correggio's best work.]]

Aside from his religious output, Correggio conceived a now-famous set of paintings depicting the ''Loves of Jupiter'' as described in [[Ovid]]'s ''[[Metamorphoses (poem)|Metamorphoses]]''. The voluptuous series was commissioned by [[Federico II Gonzaga]] of Mantua, probably to decorate his private Ovid Room in the [[Palazzo Te]]. However, they were given to the visiting Holy Roman Emperor [[Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles V]] and thus left Italy within years of their completion.

''[[Leda and the Swan (Correggio)|Leda and the Swan]]'' – acquired by [[Frederick the Great]] in 1753; now in Staatliche Museen of [[Berlin]] – is a tumult of incidents: in the centre Leda straddles a swan, and on the right, a shy but satisfied maiden. ''[[Danaë (Correggio)|Danaë]]'', now in Rome's [[Borghese Gallery]], depicts the maiden as she is impregnated by a curtain of gilded divine rain. Her lower torso semi-obscured by sheets, Danae appears more demure and gleeful than [[Titian]]'s 1545 version of the same topic, where the rain is more accurately numismatic. The picture once called ''Antiope and the Satyr'' is now correctly identified as ''[[Venus and Cupid with a Satyr]]''.

''[[Ganymede Abducted by the Eagle]]'' depicts the young man aloft in literal amorous flight. Some have interpreted the conjunction of man and eagle as a metaphor for the evangelist John; however, given the erotic context of this and other paintings, this seems unlikely. This painting and its partner, the masterpiece of ''[[Jupiter and Io]]'', are in [[Kunsthistorisches Museum]] of [[Vienna]]. ''Ganymede Abducted by the Eagle'', one of the four mythological paintings commissioned by Federico II Gonzaga, is a proto-[[Baroque]] work due to its depiction of movement, drama, and diagonal compositional arrangement.