The Rape of Proserpine (after Rubens)
Willem van Herp (Antwerp ca.1614 - Antwerp 1677)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1630 - 1669
Materials
Oil on copper
Measurements
1003 x 1270 mm (39 ½ x 50 in)
Order this imageCollection
Arlington Court, Devon
NT 987460
Caption
Pluto, has emerged from the underworld, in his chariot, drawn his four black horses, Orphnaeus, Arthion, Nycteus and Alastor, and abducts Proserpine, daughter of the corn-goddess Ceres, whilst she is out picking flowers in the fields of Sicily. The goddess Minerva (or Athene) is threatening him whilst Diana, Venus and a Nereid look ineffectually on. This scene is taken from Claudian’s poem of The Rape of Proserpine, rather than from the more common source of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The artist was inspired by an engraving after an original painting by Rubens that was once at Blenheim Palace but now lost.
Summary
Oil painting on copper, The Rape of Proserpine (after Rubens) by Willem van Herp (Antwerp ca.1614 - Antwerp 1677), mid 17th century, after an etching by Pieter Soutman, after his own drawing, after an oil sketch by Rubens for a lost original from Blenheim Palace. This slightly unusual depiction of the Rape of Proserpine, with its inclusion of the figure of Athene / Minerva (because it is taken from Claudian’s poem on The Rape of Proserpine, rather than from Ovid’s Metamorphoses) shows Proserpine, whom Diana, Athene, and Venus had encouraged to pick flowers, being abducted by Pluto in his chariot, drawn by four black horses, as Athene threatens him, and the other goddesses and a Nereid look ineffectually on.
Provenance
Not known when or by whom acquired, but probably by Sir John Chichester, 1st Bt (1794-1851); thence by descent and inheritance to Rosalie, Miss Chichester (1865-1949), by whom left to the National Trust.
Credit line
Arlington Court, The Chichester Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
Willem van Herp (Antwerp ca.1614 - Antwerp 1677), artist after Sir Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577 - Antwerp 1640), artist