Abduction of a Sabine Woman

The statue was made for Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, not by commission, but rather to impress the influential Medici, for whom the artist later produced a number of works, thereby established his career and reputation. Giambologna was more interested in technique and form than story-telling or history painting and typically named his works only late in their completion. His working titles for this statue included Paris and Helen, Pluto and Proserpina and Phineus and Andromeda, although the naming was not a matter he was preoccupied with. According to the art historian John Shearman, the statue was "an experiment in form rather than content", and typical of its time, "the expression of artistic qualities". The historian Charles Avery agreed with this, describing it as "purely as a compositional exercise". 's Judith and Holofernes, located at the Loggia dei Lanzi from 1506 to 1919. In the context of the legend of the Sabine Women, the titular word 'rape' is based on the classical Roman term raptio, which roughly translates as "mass kidnap" rather than the modern English term, hence the recent trend of more accurately titling the work the abduction of a (singular) Sabine Woman. ==Description==

The Abduction of a Sabine Woman was made from a single block of white marble, which became the largest block ever transported to Florence. Giambologna wanted to create a composition with the figura serpentina (S-curve) and an upward snakelike spiral movement. It was conceived without a dominant viewpoint; that is, the work gives a different view depending on which angle it is seen from. At 410 cm in height, the statue is larger than life-sized, adding to its monumental impact. It depicts three nude figures: an old man crouching at the end, a young man in the center who lifts a young woman above his head. The woman, who reaches her right hand outwards grasping for help, is in a life-threatening struggle to free herself from her captor. The old man appears to be defeated and in despair. Only half of his body is visible and from some angles this is evidently because the younger man's feet and knees are violently pushing and keeping him down. The three figures' heads are at opposites regardless of view point; in particular the old man seems always turned away from the younger woman, as he realises he has lost her to the aggressor, and thus his facial contortions are probably to be read as from shame. File:Rape of the Sabine Women 1583 by Giambologna at the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence Italy MH 02.jpg|Detail of the female figure File:Ratto delle Sabine.jpg|Rear view of the young man File:Rape of the Sabine Women by Giambologna-Loggia dei Lanzi-.jpg|Frontal view with background Giambologna was ambitious and competitive, and hoped to equal a number of his influences, including Michelangelo's 1501-04 David now in the Accademia Gallery, and Baccio Bandinelli's 1525-34 Hercules and Cacus at the Piazza della Signoria; both in Florence. The pedestal contains a bas-relief inscription OPVS IOANNIS BOLONII FLANDRI MDLXXXII (The work of Johannes of Boulogne of Flanders, 1582). ==Studies, condition==

The original plaster cast model is now in the Galleria dell'Accademia. A bronze model dated c. 1579 is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The sculpture was restored in 2001 and again in 2007. ==Influence==

The statue was widely influential and is thought to have informed works such as The kidnapping of Proserpina by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1621–22), Laocoon by Adriaen de Vries (1623) and Pierre Puget's Perseus and Andromeda (1684), among many others. File:RapeOfProserpina.jpg|The kidnapping of Proserpina, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, 1621–22. Galleria Borghese, Rome File:Perseus Andromeda Puget Louvre MR2076.jpg|Perseus and Andromeda, Pierre Puget, 1684. Louvre, Paris ==Notes==