Anyone who knows a little Greek mythology certainly knows God the ultimate conqueror, Zeus (Latin Jupiter) and his perpetual "love stories".
Zeus, as a good Don Giovanni, continually fell in love with beautiful girls (and boys: Ganymede) and could not take it took the shape of animals, objects or even fog as in this case.
The episode is taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses, in which the great Latin author tells of the love of Jupiter, Io, priestess of Hera and the attempted seduction of "original" thought not to be discovered by the jealous wife.
That said, I wanted to post this because I find that it is the largest of Correggio, the great figure of late-Renaissance Italian. I want to focus mainly on the sweetness of the meat and the imposing of the priestess of Zeus, who despite not having physical substance it conveys a sense of virility and strength. These two components bring the work to become the most sensual painting of the first half of the 500 in my opinion. No other artist has managed to give a painting such a strong erotic, sweet and graceful at the same time. And our good
Correggio!
