Proserpina Rapita (1552) -- N. dell'Abate, Museo del Louvre

Speranza



A landscape divorced from the world of the everyday took as its point of departure a specific story from classical mythology.

For N. dell'Abate, the rap eof Prosperina by the god of the underworld -- enacted in two episodes in the foreground and on the cliff athe right -- was largley an excuse for depicting a fantastical landscape composed of ruined castles and rocky outcrops painted in shades of blue.

The landscape was patently inspired by those of the Netherlandish painter Patinir and his school, which enjoyed enormous popularity in Venice and Ferrara.

In this work, a celebrated Greek myth is transposed by its setting into a chivalric tale in which the figures are caupt up as in a ballet.

The bizarre effect is intentional, and has its counterpart in the contemporary literature of Ferrara, inspired in equal measure by the chivalric literature and the ancient epics.