Name of Object:

The Rape of Proserpina

Location:

Rome, Latium, Italy

Holding Museum:

Borghese Gallery

 About Borghese Gallery, Rome

Original Owner:

Cardinal Scipione Borghese, gifted to Cardinal Ludovisi

Current Owner:

Italian State

Date of Object:

1621–1622

Artist(s) / Craftsperson(s):

Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598, Naples-1680, Rome)

Museum Inventory Number:

CCLXVIII

Material(s) / Technique(s):

Marble

Dimensions:

h: 250 cm

Provenance:

Ludovisi Collection

Type of object:

Sculpture

Description:

The work was commissioned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese from a young Bernini after he had completed Aeneas and Anchises. The group was then given to Ludovico Ludovisi, the new cardinal-nephew of Pope Gregory XV, who had succeeded Paul V Borghese in 1621. This commission was an act of high diplomacy by which Scipione hoped to win favour with the hostile cardinal, who was also an avid collector with a splendid suburban villa beside Villa Borghese.
The subject shows Pluto, god of the underworld, abducting Proserpina, daughter of Ceres and Jupiter. The myth is related to the fertility of the earth and therefore could symbolise Scipione's desire for the rebirth of the Borghese family after the death of his father.
The movement of the figures is a vortex of contrasting forms related to late Mannerist methods, permeated by an expressive theatricality that is typically Baroque.
Bernini freezes the action at the height of the abduction, allowing him to best describe the tension in the bodies, stressing both the virile potency of the god and the sensual femininity of the nymph.
In her futile struggle against the brutal violence, the nymph pushes her hand into Pluto's face in an attempt to free herself from his grip, while the god, thrust forward, clutches her with a triumphant expression beneath his thick beard.
A tear on the girl's desperate face and Pluto's hands sunk gleefully into her thighs are two examples of extraordinary naturalism, a triumph of technique transforming hard marble into soft flesh,
As in other works, Bernini seeks a painted style for the surfaces, applying different finishes to the flesh of the god and the nymph, and creating a hair effect for Cerberus, the three-headed dog guarding the underworld, using a gradine, a tool normally used in an intermediate stage of marble sculpting.
The work, which belonged to the Ludovisi family, was acquired by the Italian State in 1908, and placed in Villa Borghese alongside other groups by the young Bernini that were commissioned by Cardinal Scipione.

The sculpture shows Pluto and Proserpina in a twisting pose that is still linked to Mannerist art but which is combined with a Baroque theatricality. Executed between 1621 and 1622 the work was given by Scipione Borghese to Cardinal Ludovisi (cardinal nepote of Alessandro, the new pope Gregorio XV, 1621–1623).

How Object was obtained:

Acquired by the Italian State in 1908.

Selected bibliography:

Faldi, I., Galleria Borghese. Le sculture dal secolo XVI al secolo XIX, Rome, 1954, n.33, pp. 29–31.
Winner, M., “Ratto di Proserpina” in Bernini Scultore, La nascita del Barocco in Casa Borghese, exhibition catalogue, Rome, 1998, pp. 180–203.
Wittkower, R., Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The Sculptor of the Roman Baroque, London, 1955 (ed. Italiana Milano 1990, cat. 10, pp. 234–235).
Minozzi, M., Sorrentino, M. A., Chilosi, M. G., Rockwell, P., “Ratto di Proserpina” in Bernini scultore e la tecnica esecutiva, Rome, 2002, pp. 144–163.

Additional Copyright Information:

Copyright image: Archivio fotografico Soprintendenza Speciale PSAE e Polo Museale della Città di Roma.

Citation of this web page:

Sofia Barchiesi, Maria Assunta  Sorrentino "The Rape of Proserpina" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2026.
https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=object;BAR;it;Mus11;4;en

Prepared by: Sofia BarchiesiSofia Barchiesi

SURNAME: Barchiesi
NAME: Sofia

TITLE: Author and Researcher

CV:
Sofia Barchiesi, a graduate and specialist in Art History and recipient of a scholarship from the School of Mediaeval and Modern Art History at Lumsa University, has been working with the Superintendency for Historical Artistic Heritage and the Museums of Rome since the late 1980s. She was responsible for cataloguing the art of the region and museums of Rome, studying the period of the Counter-Reformation particularly closely. She works with journals and writes essays, alternating her research and teaching work., Maria Assunta SorrentinoMaria Assunta Sorrentino

SURNAME: Sorrentino
NAME: Maria Assunta

AFFILIATION: Borghese Gallery, Rome

TITLE: Conservation Department Co-ordinator

CV:
Maria Assunta Sorrentino, holder a of a Diploma in Painting and Fresco Restoration and a degree in the Science of Cultural Heritage (historical-artistic), has worked at the Borghese Gallery since 1993, where she manages the Conservation Department and is in charge of the technical and organisational co-ordination of temporary exhibitions. She is currently working on the Ten Great Exhibitions project underway at the Borghese Gallery. She has published several papers on conservation and history in relation to the exhibition, with particular reference to artists such as Bernini, Domenichino, Canova and Caravaggio.
Translation by: Laurence Nunny
Translation copyedited by: Mandi GomezMandi Gomez

Amanda Gomez is a freelance copy-editor and proofreader working in London. She studied Art History and Literature at Essex University (1986–89) and received her MA (Area Studies Africa: Art, Literature, African Thought) from SOAS in 1990. She worked as an editorial assistant for the independent publisher Bellew Publishing (1991–94) and studied at Bookhouse and the London College of Printing on day release. She was publications officer at the Museum of London until 2000 and then took a role at Art Books International, where she worked on projects for independent publishers and arts institutions that included MWNF’s English-language editions of the books series Islamic Art in the Mediterranean. She was part of the editorial team for further MWNF iterations: Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean Virtual Museum and the illustrated volume Discover Islamic Art in the Mediterranean.

True to its ethos of connecting people through the arts, MWNF has provided Amanda with valuable opportunities for discovery and learning, increased her editorial experience, and connected her with publishers and institutions all over the world. More recently, the projects she has worked on include MWNF’s Sharing History Virtual Museum and Exhibition series, Vitra Design Museum’s Victor Papanek and Objects of Desire, and Haus der Kulturen der Welt’s online publication 2 or 3 Tigers and its volume Race, Nation, Class.

MWNF Working Number: IT1 06