Sculpture Rape of the Sabine Women Marble Statue

1.Rape of the Sabine Women

It is a famous Italian Florentine medieval marble sculpture, 14 feet high, carved in Italy by the Flanders artist Giambologna from a large piece of marble. From 1582, the sculpture was erected in the Mercenary loggia adjacent to the Uffizi Gallery. Although the statue was restored in 2001, it was quickly eroded by acid rain.

Carved from an imperfect block of marble, it is one of the most beautiful and technically difficult sculptures in the world. Three intertwined bodies, two men and a woman, spiral upward, the woman trying to escape the clutches of the younger man standing on top of the older man. It’s definitely the work of Flemish sculptor Giambologna and it’s fascinating, but who are the Sabine women and what are their stories?

 

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To understand this statue, we need to go back to the legendary Roman city founded by Romulus in 753 BC. Romulus and his founders, who were mostly men, soon realized that if they were to secure the future of the new Roman state, they needed to have children. There are many more. There is, however, a small but fundamental flaw in their plan. There are very few female citizens in this city!

Romulus and his men decided to talk to their neighbors, the Sabines, to see if they could encourage some women to marry into the Roman country. However, the Sabines were suspicious, fearing that the Romans would become too powerful if the city grew too fast, and refused to let any women leave.After trying the gentle method, the Romans decided that if the Sabine women did not come voluntarily, they would kidnap the bride for themselves.

The cunning Romulus invited the Sabines and several other tribes to a feast in honor of Neptune, but it was all a ruse. At Romulus’s signal, his men snatch the Sabine women, leaving the Sabine men angry but powerless to retrieve their families.

 

3.statue rape of the sabine women

The three Giambologna characters represent a Sabine woman who obtains salvation from a young Roman abductor, who straddles a cowering and helpless older Sabine man, possibly the woman’s father.

The statue is unusual in that it can be viewed from either side. From one Angle you can see the Roman hand sinking behind the woman’s soft flesh as she wrestles with her. From another Angle, you can see the pain and panic on the woman’s face as she tries to free herself. From another Angle you can see the bodies of the three men are knotted and intertwined. There are no boring angles. This passage is utterly engrossing.