The Abduction of Proserpine
Ca. 1800. Soft-paste.Room 085
According to Roman mythology, the god of love made Pluto fall in love with Proserpine, who went to live in the Underworld until her father Jupiter ordered her to return to her mother Ceres, goddess of agriculture, for six months a year. Ceres’s joy and sadness at her daughter’s alternating presence and absence resulted in the changing seasons, a traditional subject for the decoration of recreational villas.This baroque-style group with an almost spiral composition is resolved with a restrained tension. It depicts Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guards the entrance to the Underworld, and a fallen nymph inspired by classical models. Behind them is Cupid, who makes Pluto, god of Hades, fall in love with Ceres`s daughter, Proserpine.
