Il nudo maschile nella statuaria italiana: BERNINI, PLUTONE e Proserpina, villa Borghese

Speranza



PLUTONE is shown storming forward at the instant of his violent snatch at Proserpina.

BERNINI interpreted this old rape-theme as a conflict between brutal lust and desperate anguish.

--- (Although it is LOVE that moves PLUTONE).

Bernini emphasises the contrasting feelings of the two figures by various compositional subtleties.

Although the struggling PROSERPINA is held tight in Plutone's iron grasp their bodies seem to BURST asuner, and this dual movement is re-inforced by the drawing-close and thrusting-away of PLUTONE's and PROSPERINA's almost parallel ARMS.

Future representation of such rape scenes depended on Bernini's new, dynamic conception.

The precedent of an ancient statue is a TORSO found in around 1620 and later restored by ALGARDI into

ERCOLE KILLING IDRA --

Campidoglio.