The Rape of Proserpina by Pluto by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, at the Borghese Gallery in Rome

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, known as Bernini “The Rape of Proserpina by Pluto”

White Carrara marble (255 x 109 cm) 1621

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, The Rape of Proserpina by Pluto

Le Bernin The Rape of Proserpina The theme of the rape of Proserpina, daughter of Ceres, by Pluto is part of Ovid's Metamorphoses (Book V 355).

Venus, goddess of love, laments to her son Cupid her loss of influence over the world.

She despairs when she sees that Proserpina, daughter of Ceres, goddess of agriculture and wife of Jupiter, is still a virgin.

Venus sees Pluto passing by in his chariot. He is the king of darkness and brother of Jupiter.

He represents one of the three realms, Hades, over which Venus has no influence, meaning that a third of the universe is beyond her control.

She then asks Cupid to help her marry Proserpina to her uncle Pluto.

Proserpina and Pluto Cupid takes his bow, chooses his best arrow and pierces Pluto's heart at the moment when Proserpina, an innocent and beautiful young girl, is picking violets and lilies with her companions.

Pluto sees her, falls madly in love with her, and immediately rushes towards her to kidnap her.

The young goddess, frightened, calls plaintively for her mother and her companions, while her dress, which contained her flowers in its folds, is torn by Pluto's haste.

The poor, innocent child is as distraught at losing her flowers as she is at being abducted.

It is this episode from Ovid's Metamorphoses that Bernini depicts here.

Proserpina and Pluto He shows us the moment when Pluto grabs Proserpina as she struggles and calls for her mother.

It is a statue in the Baroque style, full of energy and movement.

A statue where marble becomes flesh, where marble becomes alive with Pluto's powerful hand sinking into Proserpina's tender thigh, where hair flies in the movement of the bodies.

She struggles with all her might, so abruptly that the movement of Pluto's beard conveys the violence of despair that momentarily prevents him from embracing his prey.

Proserpina pushes her captor's face away with one hand while her arm, raised in the air, shows a desperate hand, its fingers frozen in terror.

The contrast is striking with one hand while her arm raised in the air shows a desperate hand, her fingers frozen in terror.

The contrast is striking between the god's iron musculature and the supple forms of the young girl whose bodytrembles in his arms, between the violence of the abduction and the tenderness of youthful innocence.

Proserpina and Pluto A powerful body with perfectly balanced forms, proof of Bernini's knowledge of anatomy, with no errors in the bust, legs or arms of this athlete.

This contrast between brute force and the charm and gentleness of the young girl is superbly rendered by Bernini.

In these muscular arms, Bernini depicts all the quivering, sensual femininity.

The veil formed by the rest of her torn dress, which swirls in the air following the movement of her hair, is superbly realistic, it is the moment when Pluto suddenly grabs her and carries her away in his arms.

The powerful contrast between the two characters is also reflected in their faces.

Proserpina and Pluto Pluto has the broad face of a hairy satyr with a thick beard and long curls that writhe like tentacles, all topped with a crown with sharp points.

Confident in his strength, he has his eyes fixed on his prey, his mouth half-open, wide and almost lipless, bestial.

All these slightly monstrous elements are reminiscent of the heads often found in fountains.

Proserpina, whose soft and smooth face is in stark contrast to that of Pluto, has her head thrown back in her struggle to escape her captor.

Fine strands of hair on her forehead undulate with the movement of air created by her violent abduction into the arms of the god of darkness.

Proserpina and Pluto Her furrowed brows and raised eyes, desperately seeking help, express thehelplessness of the victim thanks to the dramatic effect achieved by the contrast between the white circle of the iris and the dark hollow of the pupil.

Her nose and nostrils are slightly dilated with effort, her mouth half open and her lips contracted with fear, which alters their natural beauty.

It is a mouth from which escapes a moan of pain.

Her neck is supple and her breasts are delicately classical, while her belly has the “image” of the beauty standards of the time with the softness of plump flesh.

At the bottom of the statue, the three-headed Cerberus with sharp teeth threatening the goddess's feet is the symbol of the descent into hell of poor Proserpina.

Proserpina and Pluto

Gian Lorenzo Bernini, The Abduction of Proserpina by Pluto

Proserpina and Pluto

Bernini Proserpina and Pluto

Proserpina and Pluto