The Rape of Proserpina
- Date
- 1592–1607
- Material
- Woodcut
- Classification
- Prints
- Collection
- Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 17 5/8 x 13 5/8 in. (44.8 x 34.6 cm)
- Credit Line
- Friends Endowment Fund
- Rights
- Public Domain
- Object Number
- 18:2004
NOTES
In the upper left of this violent scene, Pluto, ancient Roman god of the underworld, abducts Proserpina, daughter of Ceres, goddess of agriculture. The 1st-century Roman poet Ovid’s retelling of this story in his "Metamorphoses" spurred interpretations by many 17th-century European artists, including Giuseppe Scolari. With a graphic dynamism enabled by his remarkable agility as a woodcutter, Scolari focused on the horses plunging into the ruptured earth, echoing the destabilizing shock and pain of Pluto’s actions.
Provenance
1960s - 2004
Samuel Josefowitz, Lausanne, Switzerland [1]
2004
R. M. Light & Co., Inc., Santa Barbara, CA, USA, purchased from Samuel Josefowitz [2]
2004 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from R. M. Light & Co., Inc. [3]
Notes:
This object is one of two prints in the collection that share the same provenance, 17:2004 and 18:2004.
[1] Samuel Josefowitz began collecting in the 1960s, per telephone conversation between Francesca Herndon-Consagra, Museum curator, and Robert M. Light of R. M. Light & Co., Inc., May 4, 2004.
[2] See letter from Robert M. Light to Francesca Herndon-Consagra, dated May 4, 2004 [SLAM document files]; see also note [1].
[3] Invoice dated May 4, 2004 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, June 1, 2004.
Samuel Josefowitz, Lausanne, Switzerland [1]
2004
R. M. Light & Co., Inc., Santa Barbara, CA, USA, purchased from Samuel Josefowitz [2]
2004 -
Saint Louis Art Museum, purchased from R. M. Light & Co., Inc. [3]
Notes:
This object is one of two prints in the collection that share the same provenance, 17:2004 and 18:2004.
[1] Samuel Josefowitz began collecting in the 1960s, per telephone conversation between Francesca Herndon-Consagra, Museum curator, and Robert M. Light of R. M. Light & Co., Inc., May 4, 2004.
[2] See letter from Robert M. Light to Francesca Herndon-Consagra, dated May 4, 2004 [SLAM document files]; see also note [1].
[3] Invoice dated May 4, 2004 [SLAM document files]. Minutes of the Collections Committee of the Board of Trustees, Saint Louis Art Museum, June 1, 2004.
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