Short answers, pulled from the story.
Leda and the Swan is a lost tempera on canvas painting by Michelangelo, produced in 1530, depicting the Greek myth of Leda and the swan. The original no longer survives and is known today only through copies, variants, and prints.
Alfonso I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, secured the promise of a painting from Michelangelo after a conversation in the Sistine Chapel on the 11th of July 1512. Michelangelo finally produced the work after returning to Florence in August 1530.
Alfonso I d'Este described the finished painting as a "little thing" within Michelangelo's hearing, and Michelangelo refused to hand it over as a result. The painting and some preparatory drawings were later acquired by Antonio Mini, who took them to France in 1531.
According to reports, Queen Anne of Austria ordered the original painting destroyed in the seventeenth century, objecting to its perceived "lasciviousness." An inventory dated 1691 documents this destruction along with a related drawing by Michelangelo that was marked for burning.
The best known copy, once attributed to Rosso Fiorentino, is held in the National Gallery in London. Other copies are in the Gemäldegalerie in Dresden, the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, the Correr Museum in Venice, and the Casa Buonarroti in Florence.
The most faithful surviving print is thought to be the one made by Nicolas Béatrizet, which also depicts Castor and Pollux alongside the central scene.