Rape of Proserpina” is a marble sculpture made by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, an Italian sculptor credited with creating the “Baroque” style of sculpting. Baroque sculpture illustrates many extra features and attempted to capture the dynamic movement of humans by greatly showing the detail in minute parts of the sculpture to make it appear as life like as possible. Baroque sculptures were three dimensional so that viewer was not restricted to one perspective only. Almost all Baroque sculptures were centrally placed so as to highlight every aspect of the sculpture and reach the surrounding area.
Baroque era started around 1600 and ended around 1750. Baroque left a royal feel in the eyes of its viewers.
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598 – 1680) was born in Naples, Italy. He is considered as one of the most profilic and accomplished artists of the Baroque Era.He was successful in achieving the highest praise and regard in the world by believing in the concept of “un bel composto” or “one beautiful composition”. Most of his work was inspired from Greek mythology and the Bible.As one of the scholars commented “what Shakespeare is to drama , Bernini may be to sculpture”
Bernini was of the opinion that Proportion is the basis of all beauty. Bernini paid great attention to drapery of the cloth to make it look very fluid as though it were having a movement.
Bernini was a great fan of theatrical art. He sculpted his sculptures in a way to make them appear as if there was scene happening on the stage and then they were suddenly frozen in time and captured. He worked on minute details in the sculpture on the roman marble, where as it was only possible to do so on bronze sculptures. Bernini was not only a sculptor but also a great architect. The “Rape of Proserpina” is just another great work of art by Bernini. It was commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese to Bernini in 1621 and later after the completion, it was given to Cardinal Ludovisi in 1622. Bernini was just 23 at that time. It was commissioned for the room of Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy and It still remains there.
As we all know, Bernini was influenced by Greek mythology, he got his inspiration of making the sculpture from one of the stories of Greek mythology about the Greek Goddess of Agriculture – Proserpina or famously known as Persephone and God of underworld – Pluto
The other inspiration he got was from Giovanni Giambologna’s Rape of Sabines. It is said that he never really saw the sculpture with his very own eyes but he did see the sketches and was aware about it.
The sculpture depicts the story about how the Greek goddess Proserpina was kidnapped.
It is to be noted that during Bernini’s era , the word for “kidnapping” was “rape”.
It is believed that Proserpina was picking flowers and Hades (Pluto) kidnapped her to make her his wife. Demeter (Proserpina’s mother) pleaded Zeus (father of Proserpina) to make a command to get Proserpina released. Proserpina was told that she will be released if she doesn’t consume a single grain, which apparently she did. She consumed 6 pomegranate seeds because she thought nobody was looking. But the ill-fated goddess had to spend 6months of an year with Hades and rest 6months she could be with her mother on the Earth.
There is a belief that when Proserpina leaves the earth and spends her time in the underworld, it gets dark and cold but he moment she returns, she doesn’t come alone. She gets back spring and summer along with her.
Another mythology says that Zeus helped Hades in kidnapping Proserpina as Hades fell strongly in love with her. Demeter looked around for her daughter day and night, later she learned that her daughter was kidnapped by Hades and raged at the gods, she left the sky and made her way to her daughter. Hades gave Proserpina a seed of pomegranate as an assurance that she wouldn’t stay with her mother for long. She consumed the seed as she had no idea about the
outcome .Asakalaphos and Gorgyra held witness against her for which Demeter stroke him down with a stone during Hades rule. Proserpina yet had to spend third of each year with Pluto and rest other days she could be with the Gods.
The most amusing thing about the sculpture is the Bernini made the marble made sculpture look so realistic. He was able to showcase the emotions of both the characters in the most perfect manner. Pluto has a grin on his face, showcasing his proud face as if he’s achieved eveything he ever wanted. There’s great attention given to the way he holds Proserpina from her thighs with his fingers. He demonstrates the elasticity of flesh, this is what was the best about Bernini. He could make marble look like flesh or anything he wants it to look like. The expressions shown in the face of Proserpina showcases how terrified she is, she wants to escape and she’s crying, she has tears. She doesn’t want him to touch her as shown in her hand movement, where her hand pushes Hade away from her, but at the same time her fingers are curled because she doesn’t even want to lay her entire Hand on his body. The sculpture talks so much about itself. Her feet are arched and stiff as she’s trying to resist him. He has also made her hair look so fluid as though
they were blown by the air and the drapes of the cloth looks