|
Date: |
|
Description: | The Rape of Proserpine at Chiswick is a fine example of Anton Schoonjans (1655-1726) work; it reveals the full extent of his studies throughout Italy during his residency in Rome from 1674-89, before he travelled to work in all the major courts of northern Europe. The Chiswick painting is classically conceived under the influence of the major late Baroque masters Carlo Maratta and Francesco Solimena, yet also reveals a sensitivity for the mythological cabinet pictures of Pier Francesco Mola and Filippo Lauri - transformed here by Schoonjans onto a massive scale; while figures such as the pensive woman in the centre foreground owe some debt to Carlo Cignani, one of the most admired Bolognese painters of his generation. Schoonjans' representation of The Rape of Proserpine focuses our attention on the principal moment of the Ovidian myth when Proserpine is violently abducted by Pluto who will take her to Hades; while some of her companions helplessly wave their arms in dismay at the events unfolding before us, others, such as the melancholy woman in the foreground, reflect the psychological state of despair in which they will plunge after her disappearance, which was to end the perpetual summer enjoyed by the world, to be replaced by the cycle of the four seasons. | Subjects: | mythology (Proserpine); figure | Source: | Vads | Creator: | Artist: Schoonjans, Anthoni (Flemish painter, ca.1655-1726) Æ | Identifier: | http://www.vads.ac.uk/large.php?uid=8730... | Go to resource |
|
|