Abduction of Proserpina

A black and white close-up of Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Abduction of Proserpina (Ratto di Proserpina, 1621–1622), capturing the single most-photographed angle of the sculpture: Pluto's right hand pressed into Proserpina's thigh, his fingers sinking into marble as if it were flesh. Carved when Bernini was just 23 years old and now housed at the Galleria Borghese in Rome, this work redefined what marble could do.

The mythological scene is the abduction of Proserpina (Persephone in Greek mythology) by Pluto, god of the underworld. Bernini freezes the moment of the abduction itself — the strain in Pluto's grip, the desperate twist of Proserpina's body, the tear running down her cheek. It is a defining work of the Italian Baroque, and a high-water mark for Western sculpture.

This print isolates the hand detail. The radical illusion — the soft give of skin where it should be solid stone — is what makes the sculpture famous, and what a high-resolution black and white photograph reveals more clearly than any colour reproduction. Strong contrast pulls the textural contrast forward; absence of colour removes distraction.

Alternative angles of this statue: Proserpina 2, and Proserpina 3.

Part of the Light & Shadow collection.