Ovid’s 'Metamorphoses' (II, 835–875) tells of the abduction of Europa by Jupiter, disguised as a bull. Charmed by the bull’s good nature, Europa climbed on his back, whereupon he bore her off into the waves, only stopping on Crete to ravish her. Boucher typically concentrates on the gallant aspects of the scene, eschewing any reference to the story’s violent dénouement. The picture, with its profusion of flowers, represented Smell in a series of five monumental canvases symbolizing the Senses. Painted without fee for the lawyer Derbais, the canvases greatly impressed contemporaries, establishing the young artist’s reputation as one of the leading decorative painters of eighteenth-century Paris.