The Abduction of Proserpina

Greece to Paris, 530 BCE–1890

Rembrandt

The Abduction of Proserpina

about 1630–31

Oil on oak panel, 33 1/4 × 31 1/4 in. Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

Rembrandt (Dutch, 1606–1669). Look at the surface: the lit parts are thick, textured paint, and the rest sinks into a dark ground.

Look at

  • The woman's dress and the chariot are built up in crusted, pale strokes.
  • The whole right half is near-black, with only a horse's rump and some foliage picked out.
  • The sky at upper left is a block of pure blue against which the dark trees are silhouetted.
  • The light runs from the blue corner down to the horses, so the eye travels out of the day and into the dark.
  • Pluto drags the girl down to the underworld; her companions cling to her cloak.

Image: Google Arts & Culture scan, via Wikimedia Commons · Public domain (faithful reproduction of a public-domain 2D work)

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