This is the most commonly cited source that is proposed to have been used for this composition by Titian and appears in the front to Arthur Pope’s analysis of the painting for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum where the painting resides. This text provides the most vital pieces of information; that the painting shows Zeus in the form of a bull who has seduced Europa with his beauty and kindness, only to run off with her against her will. This source is further connected to Titian because, in one translation, the beauty of Europa is described as so great, even Titian could not recreate it. This painting though, includes some imagery expected of this story and for a mythological composition, but also deviates from some expectations. So, for
