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Europe 1300 - 1800
Course: Europe 1300 - 1800 > Unit 9
Lesson 2: Italy- Restoring ancient sculpture in Baroque Rome
- Bernini, Pluto and Proserpina
- Bernini, David
- Bernini, David
- Bernini, David
- Bernini, Apollo and Daphne
- Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Baldacchino
- Bernini, Bust of Medusa
- Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
- Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
- Bernini, Ecstasy of Saint Teresa
- Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Cathedra Petri (Chair of St. Peter)
- Bernini, Saint Peter's Square
- Bernini, Sant'Andrea al Quirinale
- Geometry and motion in Borromini's San Carlo
- Carracci, Christ Appearing to Saint Peter on the Appian Way
- Caravaggio, Narcissus at the Source
- Caravaggio, Calling of Saint Matthew
- Caravaggio, Calling of St. Matthew
- Caravaggio, The Conversion of St. Paul (or The Conversion of Saul)
- Caravaggio, Crucifixion of Saint Peter
- Caravaggio, Supper at Emmaus
- Caravaggio, Deposition
- Caravaggio, Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
- Caravaggio, The Flagellation of Christ
- Caravaggio, Death of the Virgin
- Caravaggio and Caravaggisti in 17th-Century Europe
- Reni, Aurora
- Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes
- Gentileschi, Judith and Holofernes
- Gentileschi, Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes
- Gentileschi, Conversion of the Magdalene
- Elisabetta Sirani, Portia Wounding her Thigh
- Guercino, Saint Luke Displaying a Painting of the Virgin
- Il Gesù, including Triumph of the Name of Jesus ceiling fresco
- Pozzo, Saint Ignatius Chapel, Il Gesù
- Pozzo, Glorification of Saint Ignatius, Sant'Ignazio
- The altar tabernacle, Pauline Chapel, Santa Maria Maggiore, Rome
- Pierre Le Gros the Younger, Stanislas Kostka on his Deathbed
- Baroque art in Italy
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Bernini, Pluto and Proserpina
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Pluto and Proserpina (Persephone), 1621-22, Carrara marble, 225 cm high (Galleria Borghese, Rome) A conversation between Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker. Proserpina is the Latin variant of the mythic Greek Persephone. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.
Want to join the conversation?
- Athe said that he took Persephone against her will. I thought that she ate Underworld food and could not leave. Not because of Pluto taking her. Was I taught wrong? 0:17(6 votes)
- Pluto kidnapped Persephone and took her into the Underworld. Her mother, Demeter, the goddess of grain, appealed to Zeus for help and Zeus told Pluto to return Persephone, but Pluto said that she could not leave if she had eaten Underworld food. Persephone wept and said she had eaten six pomegranate seeds. Zeus declared that for each pomegranate seed that she had eaten, she would spend one month with Pluto each year, and for the other six months she would return to her mother. That is why in the fall and winter, when Persephone is with Pluto in the Underworld, Demeter weeps and crops do not grow, and in the spring and summer, Persephone is reunited with her mother, and the crops grow. I hope this helps you. If it does, please vote.(62 votes)
- Why does Pluto have a beard like he is a mortal?(6 votes)
- The Greek and Roman gods were depicted as having human form. Pluto, Jupiter, and Neptune all had beards.(32 votes)
- What is the 3-headed dog called?(5 votes)
- Cerberus or Kerberos. He guards the gates of the Underworld to prevent those who have crossed the river Styx from ever escaping.(26 votes)
- Is this commissioned by the church? If so, what does it have to do with Christianity?(6 votes)
- The Church also likes art for the sake of art. Also, because there are enduring lessons in some of the pagan myths. Some of the pagans also predicted the coming of Christ. It is not an endorsement of pagan religions, but rather a treatment of them as an enduring fairy story (that has greatly influenced the culture).(15 votes)
- This is a story in Greek mythology? Right?(4 votes)
- The Myth comes originaly from the greek Mythology, yes, but Berninis work is based on "The Metamorphoses", a narrative poem by the Roman poet Ovid. So, simply said, the story is the same, but the greek name of Pluto is Hades and those of Proserpina - Persephone.(6 votes)
- Why do the videos usually refer to the statues' Roman names?(5 votes)
- because that was how they were depicted and if they were found in or near rome or italy then they refer to them in their roman names but if they were found in greece they would be referred to by their grecian names(6 votes)
- Where was this kept until the Galleria got it?(4 votes)
- The large marble group was executed between 1621 and 1622. Cardinal Scipione gave it to Cardinal Ludovisi in 1622, and it remained in his villa until 1908, when it was purchased by the Italian state and returned to the Borghese Collection(5 votes)
- How does this statue link to the general ideal of Baroque art?(3 votes)
- I believe it's in the movement and realism, the use of diagonals and the emphasis on capturing a moment in time. Zucker and Harris mentioned that the statue's figures compose a rough "X" of diagonals, and they often mention diagonals and movement (and transitional states) in other videos relating to significant Baroque art.(3 votes)
- Did Proserpina's mother do something to get Proserpina back?(3 votes)
- Proserpina's mother Demeter looked all over the world for her daughter, and when she couldn't find her she went into a depression. Demeter was the Goddess of the fields, and when she was depressed it became winter for the first time.
Because of this winter the people couldn't work the lands. After a While Zeus took pity on Demeter. He told Pluto to give Proserpina back to her mother,( so it could be summer again). But Proserpina had eaten a fruit in the underworld,
Anyone who eats in the underworld must stay there forever. So Pluto and Zeus made a compromise. Proserpina could be with her mother for 6 months and must spend the other 6 months of the year with Pluto.
When Proserpina is in the underworld it is winter, and when she is with her mother it becomes summer. And that's were the seasons come from, according to this legend.(4 votes)
- How long has it been since Greek gods existed ?(2 votes)
- There is a vase which depicts Athena and Zeus that is dated (I'm not sure of the dating method used, however) around 550 B.C. So they have "existed" at least 2500 years ago.(3 votes)
Video transcript
(jaunty piano music) - [Steven] We're in the
gallery of Borghese in Rome, looking at an important, very
early sculpture by Bernini. - [Beth] This is Pluto and Persephone, this is a bit of a difficult subject. Pluto, who rules over
Hades, the land of the dead, is shown here abducting
the beautiful Persephone. - [Steven] She's the
daughter of Zeus and Demeter. Demeter is associated with life, with the growth of fields, with nature. - [Beth] With crops, with fertility. - [Steven] And she's devastated
by the loss of her daughter. - [Beth] But a deal is struck. Persephone only spends half
the year in the underworld, and the other half of
the year here on Earth. - [Steven] A fanciful
explanation for why crops grow only in the warm months. Although the sculpture group
is now in the middle of a room, this sculpture was originally
placed very close to a wall, and is really meant to
be seen from the front. - [Beth] I find this to
be a difficult sculpture when I first look at it, because my eye goes immediately to Pluto. And the grin on his face as
he's abducting Persephone feels very distasteful. - [Steven] Especially in
contrast to Persephone who is rendered so beautifully. And she looks as if she
is truly repulsed by him, she doesn't want to touch him. - [Beth] She's using her left
hand to push his forehead away but she curls her fingers away. She doesn't want to lay her
entire hand on his body. Even her toes seem tensed up
as she tries to resist him. - [Steven] But probably
the most striking aspect of the sculpture, for me, is the way Pluto's fingers
press into her thigh. And the artist demonstrates
the elasticity of flesh but in hard cold stone. This is marble. This is magic. - [Beth] This is what
Bernini could do best. He could make marble appear
to be flesh or feathers or hair, the bark of a tree. He could transform marble
into almost any material. - [Steven] This sculpture
began as a block. And the artist chisels and drills to remove the unnecessary stone. But this sculpture is so delicate, it almost seems as if it's made the way a bronze sculpture is made. That is, it was built up in clay or wax, so delicate and so fine are the details. - [Beth] That's especially
true with her hair that flies back. It is as though he's modeled
that in some soft material. - [Steven] Or the cloth that almost like a corkscrew spins behind her. - [Beth] Here we are in
the sixteenth hundreds. This is the Baroque era. The movement that we see here, this caught moment in time, is part of what makes
this Baroque in style. - [Steven] It would be
impossible for these figures to hold their position for
more than one moment in time. Look at Pluto. Both of his legs are flexed. Those knees are bent. His body is so unstable. He must be in motion, he must be moving forward. This lacks all of the stability
of the high renaissance. - [Beth] The composition seems
to be in the shape of an X, of two intersecting, diagonal lines. As soon as you have a diagonal, you have a sense of
movement and instability. - [Steven] The idea of
movement is even expressed in the dog that guards Hades, Cerberus. Whose three heads almost seem as if they might be one head in motion. And I love the fact that
Bernini has sculptured the eye of one of the
dog heads as a spiral. - [Beth] Speaking of instability, Pluto's weight is really carried just on that forward
foot on his left foot, and the right foot is up and he's just on the ball of
his foot and three of his toes. This is incredibly unstable. - [Steven] He seems to be in
the process of hoisting her up. - [Beth] And she is in the
process of pushing him away. We have conflicting desires here. This is not a movement in unison. This is a conflict. But this is also an exercise in the beauty of the human body, in the beauty of form. Bernini was a deeply religious man in a deeply religious culture. But this is not in any
way a religious drama. This is mythology. This is speaking to the cultured status of the man who commissioned this. - [Beth] And the continued importance of ancient Greek and Roman culture even here in the Baroque era. (jaunty piano music)