O rapto de proserpina bernini
O rapto de proserpina bernini en.
Rape of Proserpine
Bernini Gian Lorenzo
(Naples 1598 - Rome 1680)
The work portrays the abduction of Proserpine by Pluto, god of the underworld.
O rapto de proserpina bernini
Narrated by both Claudian and Ovid, the myth tells of the abduction of the maiden on the shores of Lake Pergusa, near Enna. Crazed by sorrow, her mother, the harvest goddess Ceres, caused a drought that forced Jupiter to intercede with Pluto to allow Proserpina to return to her for six months a year.
Bernini represents the culminating moment of the action. The proud, insensitive god is dragging Proserpine into Hades, his muscles so taut in the effort to hold the writhing body that his hands sink into her flesh.
The arrangement of the sculpture is pushed to the limits of the stability of the two figures, who look away from each other while remaining in frontal positions with respect to the observer.
The twisting of the maiden’s body recalls the virtuosity of Mannerist taste; yet the power of the plastic form, the tension of the mu