 In particular Leda and the Swan, where the god appeared as a swan and seduced the woman, was depicted very explicitly; it seems that this—rather strangely—was considered more acceptable because he appeared as a bird.For a period ending in the early 16th century the boundaries of what could be depicted in for display in the semi-privacy of a Renaissance palace seemed uncertain.Michelangelo's "Leda" was a fairly large painting showing sex in progress, and one of the hundreds of illustrations to the book the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili" of 1499 shows Leda and the Swan having sex on top of a triumphal car watched by a crowd.