Explore the Background of this artwork.
The Rape of Proserpina is based on the Latin myth of Proserpina, which is found in both Ovid's Metamorphoses and Claudian's De Raptu Proserpinae. Proserpina, the daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, is gathering flowers when she is seized by the god of the underworld, Pluto. Pluto erupts from the ground in a chariot pulled by four black horses, and forces Proserpina down into the underworld with him, but not before Ceres could hear her daughter scream. Ceres dried the earth and caused harvests to fail, prompting Jupiter to negotiate a deal: Pluto and Ceres would each have Proserpina for half the year. The myth symbolizes the changing of the seasons: when Proserpina is with Pluto, nature dies and winter begins; when she resides with Ceres, the earth is spring.Bernini's statue depicts the climactic moment of the story, when Pluto grabs Proserpina, who struggles against him as he carries her over the border of the underworld, symbolized by a marble Cerberus. The combatants are almost fully nude, though cloth still covers Pluto's thigh and Proserpina's shoulder. The marble Cerberus is joined to Pluto through this cloth.Many sculptures of the time did not have one central perspective from which to view them, instead forcing the observer to see them from many angles before they could understand it in its entirety. The Rape of Proserpina, however, can be seen in full from one angle, directly in front of the base. All other viewpoints are subordinate.
Cerberus  Rape Ceres Claudian Metamorphoses marble Pluto Proserpina Jupiter Ovid