End of Exhibit
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Description
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| Bronze figural group depicting the Rape of Persephone. Hades (ruler of the Underworld), bearded and wearing a crown, looks toward Persephone as he carries her off. He clutches her body with his right hand and holds a pitchfork in his left. Persephone, her body bent backwards and one of her breasts exposed, grasps a wreath of flowers with her right hand. On circular base. According to Greek mythology, Hades, ruler of the Underworld, abducted the beautiful goddess Persephone while she was picking flowers in a Sicilian meadow. Forced to live in the underworld for six months of the year, Persephone was allowed to return to the earth for the rest of the year, symbolic of the rebirth of Spring. This is the companion group to Boizot's "Boreas and Orithyia." Both were originally prepared for reproduction in biscuit de Sevres and were exhibited by the artist in the Salon of 1786. |
The Rape of Persephone
-Cast in Bronze at the Athenaeum: 19th Century Bronze Sculpture
