22-52Giovanni da Bologna,Abduction of the Sabine Women,
Loggia dei Lanzi, Piazza della Signoria, Florence, Italy, 1579–1583.
Marble, 13 5 –^12 high.
This sculpture was the first large-scale group since classical antiquity
designed to be seen from multiple viewpoints. The three bodies inter-
lock to create a vertical spiral movement.
22-51Benvenuto Cellini,Saltcellar
of Francis I,1540–1543. Gold, enamel, and
ebony, 10– 41 1 1 –^18 . Kunsthistorisches
Museum, Vienna.
Famed as a master goldsmith, Cellini
fashioned this costly saltcellar for the
table of Francis I of France. The elongated
proportions of the figures clearly reveal
Cellini’s Mannerist approach to form.Mannerism 6191 in.1 ft.(FIG. 22-52) exemplifies Mannerist principles of figure composi-
tion. Drawn from the legendary history of early Rome, the group re-
ceived its present title—relating how the Romans abducted wives for
themselves from the neighboring Sabines—only after its exhibition.
Earlier, it was Paris Abducting Helen,among other mythological titles.
In fact, Giovanni had no interest in depicting any particular subject.
He created the group as a demonstration piece. His goal was to
achieve a dynamic spiral figural composition involving an old man, a
young man, and a woman, all nude in the tradition of ancient statues
portraying mythological figures. Although Giovanni would have
known Antonio Pollaiuolo’s Hercules and Antaeus(FIG. 21-14), whose
Greek hero lifts his opponent off the ground, he turned directly to
ancient sculpture for inspiration.Abduction of the Sabine Women in-
cludes references to Laocoön(FIG. 5-88)—once in the crouching old
man and again in the woman’s up-flung arm. The three bodies inter-
lock on a vertical axis, creating an ascending spiral movement.
To appreciate the sculpture fully, the viewer must walk around
it, because the work changes radically according to the viewing
point. One factor contributing to the shifting imagery is the promi-
nence of open spaces that pass through the masses (for example, the
space between an arm and a body), giving the spaces an effect equal
to that of the solids. This sculpture was the first large-scale group
since classical antiquity designed to be seen from multiple view-
points, in striking contrast to Pollaiuolo’s group, which the artist in-
tended to be seen from the angle shown in FIG. 21-14.Giovanni’s fig-
ures do not break out of this spiral vortex but remain as if contained
within a cylinder. Nonetheless, they display athletic flexibility and
Michelangelesque potential for action.