The Rape of Proserpina (Italian: Ratto di Proserpina) is a Carrara marble sculpture made by Baroque-era Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
The sculpture is a depiction of Proserpina — Goddess of Spring and Roman version of the Greek Goddess Persephone — as she is being kidnapped by Pluto, Lord of the Underworld.
The sculpture was commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese (a companion piece to a portrait of Pope Paul V) as a gift to Cardinal Ludovisi for his villa in 1622. It would later be purchased by the Italian government and put on display in the Galleria Borghese in Rome, Italy.
Not to be confused with the Rubens painting of the same name.
The Rape of Proserpina provides examples of:
- Angelic Beauty: Proserpina, the goddess of spring, plays it straight by being a cute-looking teenager. Pluto averts it because while his body is muscular, he's a middle-aged man with a face full of wrinkles.
- Artistic License – Anatomy: While the sculpture was well-received, Jerome de la Lande famously commented on the inaccuracies in its anatomy, particularly, the unnatural way Pluto's back bends and the gaudiness in the details of his head.
- Contrapposto Pose: Or at least a very dynamic version bordering on figura serpentinata. Pluto is in a pose with his left foot forward, all of his and Proserpina's weight on it.
- Death and the Maiden: The sculpture depicts one of the oldest (known) stories that embody the trope, being the Roman God of the Underworld kidnapping the Goddes of Spring Proserpina. The latter, portrayed as a teenage girl, is anguished over the prospect, frantically trying to free herself. The former is depicted as an old man.
- Hand-or-Object Underwear: While Pluto and Proserpina are both nude, a strand of cloth (presumably what remains of Proserpina's attire) conveniently covers Pluto's genitals, though some pubic hair is visible.
- Hellhound: Kerberos can be seen at Pluto's heel.
- Protagonist Title
- Shout-Out: This particular portrayal of Proserpina's kidnapping draws from the Narrative Poem The Metamorphoses. It popularized the idea of interpreting the generational gap between the two characters by making Proserpina a teenager and Pluto a middle-aged man.
- The X of Y
