Fresco depicting erotic scene uncovered in Pompeii ruins

An ancient fresco depicting an erotic scene from the Greek myth “Leda and the Swan” has been uncovered at the Pompeii archeological site in central Italy.

The artwork portrays the Greek god Zeus – or Jupiter in Roman mythology – taking the form of a swan and seducing the Spartan Queen Leda, the wife of King Tyndareus. Depictions of Greek mythologies have been found all over Pompeii.

The relic was unearthed Friday in the Regio V area of Pompeii, the ancient city destroyed during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79.

Pictures from the excavation show the vivid color of the painting is still visible, some 2,000 years after it was buried under a thick layer of volcanic ash. In the painting, Queen Leda is portrayed sitting on a chair, draped in a golden cloak with the swan god in her lap.

A fresco depicting the Greek myth of Leda and the Swan at the Pompeii archeological site.

“This painting, compared with others of Pompeii in the Roman world, is characterized by a pronounced sensuality,” said Pompeii archaeological park director, Massimo Osanna, in an official video. “It’s presenting Leda welcoming the swan into her lap.”

That Leda is depicted as “welcoming” the swan, as Osanna put it, is a noteworthy feature of this newly unearthed fresco. Throughout the ages, different interpretations of the myth in art and poetry have cast the encounter as either consensual or as rape.

Osanna also said the work is significant because Leda’s eyes appear to follow the viewer.

According to the Pompeii archaeological park website, the fresco was discovered in the bedroom of a house during work to stabilize the excavation site. A neighboring corridor was previously found to contain another ancient fresco – one showing the Roman fertility god, Priapus, weighing his giant phallus.

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Along with other erotic works of classical mythology, the scene of “Leda and the Swan” was popular among first-century Pompeiians, according to the park’s website.

Archeologists have discovered various depictions in Pompeii houses, or domus, and in ruins of other ancient Roman towns destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. However, these often feature Leda standing, rather than seated.

The "Apollo and Venus" painting by 16th-century Dutch master Otto van Veen (1556-1629) was discovered in the closet of an art gallery in Iowa, and is likely worth over $4 million.

Scroll through the gallery for other examples of lost and found artworks.

One of a triptych of artworks created by Ben Enwonwu during the aftermath of Nigeria's bloody civil war, "Tutu" disappeared shortly after being painted in 1974. Its whereabouts remained the subject of intense speculation for over 40 years before the portrait was discovered in a family home late last year. In March, it sold for over $1.6 million (£1,205,000).

"Two Hacks" (1789) by George Stubbs was sold at a Christie's "Living with Art" sale in New York in June 2016 -- originally listed as a copy. Art dealer Archie Parker -- believing it to be a real Stubbs -- purchased the painting for $175,000 ($215,000 with premium). The painting is currently hanging on his stand at the annual British Antique Dealers' Association (BADA) Fair in London, with an asking price of $900,000.

Rembrandt's drawing of a dog has been in the collection of the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig, Germany, since 1770, but was long thought to be the work of a different artist.

In 2016, a drawing attributed to Italian master Leonardo da Vinci was discovered in Paris, after a portfolio of works was brought to Tajan auction house for valuation by a retired doctor. It was valued at 15 million euros ($16 million).

The drawing also features sketches of light and shadows and notes on the back.

While researching for an episode of BBC's "Britain's Lost Masterpieces" series at the National Trust for Scotland's Haddo House collection in Aberdeenshire, art historian Bendor Grosvenor and a team of experts found a painting that could have been painted by artist Raphael.

In April 2016, a painting believed to be by Caravaggio was found in an attic in France. Experts said it could be worth $136 million.

The work was originally purchased for $25 dollars at the end of the 19th century. It could now be worth $26 million.

In 1911, Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" was stolen from the Louvre by an Italian who had been a handyman for the museum. The famous painting was recovered two years later.

A statue called "Young Girl with Serpent" by Auguste Rodin was stolen from a home in Beverly Hills, California, in 1991. It was returned after someone offered it on consignment to Christie's auction house. Rodin, a French sculptor considered by some aficionados to have been the father of modern sculpture, lived from 1840 until 1917. His most famous work, "The Thinker," shows a seated man with his chin on his hand.

Picasso's "La Coiffeuse" ("The Hairdresser") was discovered missing in 2001 and was recovered when it was shipped from Belgium to the United States in December 2014. The shipper said it was a $37 piece of art being sent to the United States as a Christmas present. The feds say it was actually a stolen Picasso, missing for more than a decade and worth millions of dollars.

Italy's Culture Ministry unveils two paintings by the French artists Paul Gauguin and Pierre Bonnard on April 2, 2014. The paintings, worth millions of euros, were stolen from a family house in London in 1970, abandoned on a train and then later sold at a lost-property auction, where a factory worker paid 45,000 Italian lire for them -- roughly equivalent to 22 euros ($30).

A Renoir painting finished in the 1800s, loaned to a museum, reported stolen in 1951 and then bought at a flea market in 2010 has to be returned to the museum, a judge ruled on January 10, 2014. The 5½-by-9-inch painting, titled "Landscape on the Banks of the Seine," was bought for $7 at a flea market by a Virginia woman. The estimated value is between $75,000 and $100,000.

Seven famous paintings were stolen from the Kunsthal Museum in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in 2012, including Claude Monet's "Charing Cross Bridge, London." The paintings, in oil and watercolor, include Pablo Picasso's "Harlequin Head," Henri Matisse's "Reading Girl in White and Yellow," Lucian Freud's "Woman with Eyes Closed" and Claude Monet's "Waterloo Bridge," seen here. Works by Gauguin and Meyer de Haan were also taken.

Eight months after Salvador Dali's "Cartel de Don Juan Tenorio" was stolen in a New York gallery, a Greek national was indicted on a grand larceny charge in 2013.

In 1473, Hans Memling's "The Last Judgment" was stolen by pirates and became the first documented art theft.

Adam Worth, the inspiration for Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's diabolical character Moriarty, stole "Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire," painted by Thomas Gainsborough in 1876.

Among their many crimes, the Nazis plundered precious artworks as they gained power during World War II. "Adele Bloch-Bauer I," by Austrian artist Gustav Klimt, was confiscated from the owner when he fled from Austria.

Many works of art that were taken by the Nazis were never recovered. Others were returned after years of legal battles. "Christ Carrying the Cross," by Italian artist Girolamo de' Romani, was returned to his family in 2012.

"The Scream" was one of two Edvard Munch paintings that were stolen from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway, in 2004.

In 2007, Pablo Picasso's oil painting ''Portrait of Suzanne Bloch" was taken from the Sao Paulo Museum of Art. It was recovered two years later.

Lost and found: Incredible works discovered

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“Leda and the Swan” is an important story in classical mythology, as Leda is said to have given birth to offspring who feature in several prominent Greek myths. These include Clytemnestra, the twins Castor and Pollux, and Helen, who became the wife of King Menelaus of Sparta and caused the legendary Trojan War.

The myth has also inspired some of the most famous artists and poets throughout the centuries, including Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, though only copies of their work remain. Irish poet W. B. Yeats composed “Leda and the Swan” in 1923, the same year he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.