A white marble sculptural group by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, carved 1621 to 1622 when the artist was twenty three, held by the Galleria Borghese in Rome under inventory CCLXVIII. The work shows Pluto, god of the underworld, seizing Proserpina and holding her aloft as she strains away from him, her hand pressed against his face; a three headed Cerberus crouches at the base, marking the threshold between the world above and the underworld. Bernini carves Pluto's fingers pressing into Proserpina's thigh with a softness unusual for marble, one of the sculpture's most admired technical passages. It stands in the Galleria Borghese's Room of the Emperors.
Facts
Physical Form
MediumWhite marble, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1621 to 1622 1 Medium (class) Connections
Associated With
This source names Proserpina directly: "The work shows Pluto, god of the underworld, seizing Proserpina and holding her aloft as she strains away from him, her hand pressed against his face; a three headed Cerberus crouches at the base..."
Source The Rape of Proserpina, Category Record (Wikimedia Commons, Galleria Borghese CCLXVIII)
Depicts
Pluto, Deities The sculpture's central figure, mid-abduction, in Roman mythology's own account of Pluto's most famous act, on display at the Galleria Borghese, Rome.
Source The Rape of Proserpina, Category Record (Wikimedia Commons, Galleria Borghese CCLXVIII)
Additional Source The Rape of Proserpina (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
Authored By
Also in Arts and Music Atlas: the author of this subject.
Sources
1. The Rape of Proserpina, Category Record (Wikimedia Commons, Galleria Borghese CCLXVIII)
Wikimedia Commonscatalogue record, medium/object-type descriptionQuote, catalogue record, medium/object-type description
A white marble sculptural group by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, carved 1621 to 1622 when the artist was twenty three, held by the Galleria Borghese in Rome under inventory CCLXVIII.
Italian Renaissance art (Wikipedia)
In Group: Italian Renaissance and Baroque Art, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, carved 1621 to 1622, Galleria BorgheseView the Source The Rape of Proserpina (Wikipedia)
WikipediaDepicts: PlutoQuote, Depicts: Pluto
Pluto holding Proserpina aloft, and a Cerberus to symbolize the border into the underworld.
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