Abduction of a Sabine Woman

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Abduction of a Sabine Woman by Giambologna, 1583
Loggia dei Lanzi
Piazza della Signoria
Florence, December 2009

“Abduction of a Sabine Woman (or Rape of the Sabine Women) is a large and complex marble statue by the Flemish sculptor and architect Giambologna (Johannes of Boulogne). It was completed between 1579 and 1583 when Giambologna was a student at the prestigious Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, Rome, under he patronage of Cosimo I de' Medici. Giambologna achieved widespread fame in his lifetime, and this work is widely considered his masterpiece. It has been in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence, since August 1582. The statue is composed in the figura serpentina style. It depicts three nude figures: a young man in the center who has seemingly taken a woman from an despairing older man below him. It is ostensibly based on the rape of the Sabine Women incident from the early history of Rome when the city contained relatively few women, leading to their men committing a raptio (large-scale abduction; the word is rendered as rape in archaic or literary English) of young women from nearby towns and cities. It was the first of Giambologna's statues for Francesco de’ Medici of Tuscany, and is produced in the Mannerist style associated with the Italian High Renaissance. It consists of three full figures and was carved from a single block of white marble. It was not given a title until after it was completed. Giambologna was typically non-committal about the subject matter of his work, and in this instance wanted to produce a large, monumental sculpture that would display his virtuosity. Around the time it was finished, and before Francesco had it installed at the Loggia dei Lanzi, Vincenzo Borghini suggest the title The Rape of the Sabines, and thus a bronze relief was added to the pedestal to link it with the Roman myth.” (Abduction of a Sabine Woman, Wikipedia)