26 FRANgOIS GIRARDON
French (Paris), 1628-1715
Pluto Abducting Proserpine,
cast circa 1693-1710
Bronze
105.1 cm (4l^3 / 8 in.)
Inscribed on the top of the base:
F. Girardon Inv. et F.
88.SB.73
Girardon was the pre-eminent sculptor to Louis XIV, working on royal projects at the
chateaux of Versailles and Marly, as well as in Paris. His early training was completed
by a stay in Italy, where Girardon's study of ancient and modern sculpture formed the
basis for his refined, classicizing style. After his return to France in 1650, Girardon was
supported by Charles Le Brun, First Painter to the King. The commission in 1666 for a
major marble group of Apollo Served by the Nymphs for the Grotto of Thetis at Versailles
marked Girardon's success at court, and his steady progress through the ranks of the
Academie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture culminated in his appointment as
Chancelier'm 1695.
This bronze was based on Girardon's monumental marble sculpture, one of four
three-figured abduction groups that were part of a grandiose sculptural program for the
Parterre d'Eau at Versailles. These groups, each commissioned from a different sculptor,
were to symbolize the Four Elements in a larger cosmic scheme revolving around the
association of Louis XIV with the sun god, Apollo. Girardon's group, alluding to the
element of Fire, represents Proserpine being kidnapped by the god of the underworld,
Pluto, who made her queen of his fiery kingdom. Pluto lifts Proserpine from the
ground and strides over the recumbent body of one of her companions, the nymph
Cyane, who grasps a bit of drapery in a futile attempt to prevent the abduction.
In his conception of the struggling group, Girardon demonstrated his study
of Giambologna's famous three-figured abduction group, The Rape of a Sabine
(1581—1582), and created a complex composition that presents a variety of satisfying
and informative views. Girardon also relied on Gianlorenzo Bernini's two-figured,
dramatic version of the story of Pluto and Proserpine, in which the violence of the
event is conveyed through extreme action, gesture, and facial expression. Girardon
reduced the qualities of motion and emotion found in Bernini's group and presented
a more noble, restrained image of the theme, consonant both with the decorum
characteristic of French classicism and with the requirements of the original
commission for a sculpture representing one Element in a cosmic scheme.
Girardon produced several bronze versions of this popular composition, which were
sometimes paired with another group from the Parterre d'Eau, Gaspard Marsy's Boreas
Abducting Orithyia. The J. Paul Getty Museum acquired the Girardon sculpture with
a pendant version of the Marsy group. MC and PAF78 EUROPEAN SCULPTURE