The picture of Leda and Tyndareus, given in plate XLVIII, was, when first discovered, one of the most beautiful specimens of ancient art. The composition, the tone of colouring, and the harmony of all its parts, rendered it, perhaps, a more agreeable picture than that of Achilles. According to its present appearance, the drapery of Tyndareus is of deep blue, lined with green ; that of Leda is rose-coloured, that of the attendant behind her green, as is that of another person near the pillar ; that of the person with the bow is yellow, and of the figure behind him dark-coloured, or perhaps green.

The robe of Leda was, at one time, green lined with blue, and the robe of Tyndareus was black ; but even the red changes to black, and the red to yellow, according to its exposure to rain, sun, or damp. The three children sitting in their nest, and the mother playing with them as with birds, is a novel conceit, and has a pretty effect. Tyndareus does not regard them with more than a complacent look. The mountains in the distance end somewhat abruptly behind the square pier in the centre.

The plate is filled up, above and below, with the specimen of the city wall, as preserved in a mosaic pavement at Pompeii. That this species of tower, wall, battlements, and gate was not very different from some which then existed may be presumed. Indeed parts of the walls of Rome are not very dissimilar. The pavement is in the bouse called that of the Wild Boar, or Cinghiale.