Abduction of a Sabine Woman

Common card · No. 261962

Abduction of a Sabine Woman (or The Rape of the Sabine) is a large and complex marble statue by the Flemish sculptor and architect Giambologna (Johannes of Boulogne). It was completed between 1579 and 1583 for Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Giambologna achieved widespread fame in his lifetime, and this work is often considered his masterpiece. It has been in the Loggia dei Lanzi, Florence, since August 1582. The statue is composed in the figura serpentinata style. It depicts three figures: a young man in the centre who has seemingly taken a woman from the despairing older man below him. It is ostensibly based on the "rape of the Sabine Women", a legend from the early history of Rome when the city contained relatively few women, leading to their men committing a raptio (large-scale abduction) of young women from nearby Sabina. 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...

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