François Girardon (1628–1715)

The Abduction of Proserpina

c. 1690–1700
Bronze, rich olive patina with extensive traces of original lacquer
105 cm (41 ½ in.) high

The greatest French sculptor of his day, François Girardon was crucial to the birth of the classical
style of academic sculpture that took centre stage during the reign of the Sun King, Louis XIV, and
would influence generations of artists to come in France and beyond. Having completed his training
in both Paris and Rome, in 1657 Girardon was formally accepted into the Académie Royale, where
his ‘morseau de réception’ was a marble oval medallion of The Virgin of Sorrows (now Paris,
Louvre). His importance as France’s leading sculptor is evident in two highly prestigious
commissions, one for the funerary monument to Cardinal de Richelieu in the Chapel of the
Sorbonne, Paris, the other for the monumental bronze equestrian statue of the King in Roman
armour, made for the Place Louis le Grand (now Place Vendôme), sadly destroyed during the
French Revolution. Highly successful throughout his career, under royal patronage Girardon
executed important sculptural groups for both the Louvre and Versailles residences, and rapidly
rose through the ranks of the Académie, where he was made Chancellor in 1695.
The bronze presented here is an autograph cast of one of Girardon’s most spectacular and
sophisticated compositions, famously also executed in marble for the planned yet never completed
Parterre d'Eau in the gardens at Versailles. Both an homage to two of the most celebrated
masterpieces of previous generations – Giambologna’s Rape of the Sabine Woman in the Loggia
dei Lanzi, Florence (finished in 1583) and Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s own portrayal of the abduction of
Proserpina, dating to 1622 (Galleria Borghese, Rome) – and a bold statement of intent, this tour de
force by Girardon depicts the moment in ancient mythology when the god Pluto abducts Proserpina
and carries her off to his reign - the underworld - to become his wife, as recounted in Book V of
Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The marble version, completed by Girardon in 1699, had been
commissioned by King Louis XIV by 1677, as part of a series of four monumental abduction groups
meant to symbolise the Four Elements, with the present composition representing fire through
Pluto’s connection with Hades.

The present bronze represents a major addition to Girardon’s oeuvre, and more specifically to the
study of his Proserpina compositions, as it has been identified as his earliest bronze cast of this
subject. Indeed our sculpture differs from the known versions in one significant detail: it is cast in
one piece, whilst the others are all section cast. This suggests that the master first attempted a
single cast for the composition, as is generally accepted to be the customary practice for primary
examples, opting in later versions for piece-mould casts due to the group’s elaborate structure. The
vivacity of Proserpina’s outstretched arms and the overall meticulous detailing of the forms, from the
muscular anatomies to the flowing robes, enable the viewer to fully understand the monumentality
of Girardon’s endeavour.

Primary sources record that, before finishing the marble statue, Girardon received payment for a
bronze cast of the Abduction for the Sun King in 1693 (Comptes, III, 853-54), whilst two further casts
of the same subject appear in the artist’s posthumous inventory of 1715 (nos. 214 and 230).
Documentary evidence indicates the example from the French royal collection is now held by the
Versailles Museum (98 cm high), and it has been argued that the two formerly in Girardon’s own
collection are those now in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg (107.5 cm high), and in the
Heckscher Museum in Huntington, California (108 cm high). Both are signed, as is a third version
now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (106.5 cm high).

Our Abduction of Proserpina therefore constitutes not only a highly important, but also a unique
cast in Girardon’s production, closely related to one of his principal royal commissions. In stylistic
terms, our version is consistent with the master’s known working practice, as it is closely
comparable to the version in Strasbourg, especially in the modelling of the rockwork base, and it is
formed of an alloy and core very similar to those of the Getty sculpture. Most importantly, the
composition epitomises the expression of the artist’s already mature, confident and fully formed
understanding of classical vocabulary through the lesson of the Italian baroque, re-interpreted in his
distinctively individual language. The main viewpoint focuses on the vigorous movement of Pluto,
who seizes Proserpina while striding across the latter’s companion Cyane. The god’s countenance
is resolute and unperturbed, his body steadfast and upright. By contrast, Proserpina’s figure forms
a sinuous, agitated line that mirrors her internal turmoil. This movement, together with Proserpina’s
turned head, also invites the viewer’s gaze to explore the bronze further, from new angles, both
towards the sides and the crouching Cyane. In other words, Girardon’s sculpture is conceived to
unfold gradually before the eyes of the beholder, a symphony of dynamism and balance, might and
grace, embodied by Pluto and Proserpina.
Provenance:
Possibly Vaudreuil collection sale, 26 November 1787, lot 184
Whence D’Espagnac-Tricot collection
Their sale, 22 May 1793, lot 192 (sold 2,350 livres to Haudiq)

Literature:
Literature
A. Maral, Girardon, le sculpteur de Louis XIV, Paris, 2015, pp. 428, 450, 511, illustrated p. 449

Related Literature
G. Bresc-Bautier and G. Scherf, (eds.), Cast in Bronze, French Sculpture from Renaissance to
Revolution, exh. cat., Musée du Louvre, Paris; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and The J.P.
Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2009, no. 68

Europäische Barockplastik am Niederrhein: Grupello und seine Zeit, exh. cat., Kunstmuseum,
Dusseldorf, 1971, no. 334, pp. 368-69, pl. 215

F. Souchal, ‘La Collection du Sculpteur Girardon d’ aprés son Inventaire après décès’, Gazette des
Beaux Arts, LXXXII, 1973, pp. 1 -112
F. Souchal, French sculptors of the 17th and 18th Centuries: The reign of Louis XIV, Oxford, 1981-
93, vol. II, no. 42, pp. 41 – 43, and supplementary vol., London, 1993, no. 42, pp. 102–04