Rape of Persephone with Pluto on horseback at right

Rape of Persephone with Pluto on horseback at right

Giuseppe Scolari

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Smitten by love for Proserpina, Pluto (also known as Hades), lord of the Underworld, carried her off violently in his infernal chariot, plunging through the Bay of Cyane into his subterranean realm. Scolari, who was also a painter, is best known today for his technically inventive and highly expressive woodcuts, which he both designed and cut. In his only depiction of a mythological subject, the artist captures the moment when the earth splits open, the waters of the bay pour into the void, and the fires of Hades issue forth, while the maiden struggles to free herself from her captor. This print is from a scrapbook (album) containing woodcuts and chiaroscuro prints. It was presumably taken apart when it was acquired by The Met in 1922. On the front page of the volume there appeared a statement that this collection was made by the poet Samuel Rogers (1763-1855) and then bought by Angela Coutts (1816-1906) in memory of him at the sale of the collection at his house (28 April – 20 May, 1856). #1615a Rogers Sale. #146 Burdett Coutts Sale (Sotheby’s, May 1922). The prints from the original album have the range 22.73.3-1–22.73.3-161.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Rape of Persephone with Pluto on horseback at rightRape of Persephone with Pluto on horseback at rightRape of Persephone with Pluto on horseback at rightRape of Persephone with Pluto on horseback at rightRape of Persephone with Pluto on horseback at right

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.