Amorini Celebrate the Rape of Proserpina 1805 - 1812

Curator: Look at this intriguing print, "Amorini Celebrate the Rape of Proserpina" created between 1805 and 1812 by Francesco Rosaspina. The scene is just teeming with activity. Editor: It certainly is... but the title feels so discordant with the scene itself. All those frolicking cherubs... it feels so lighthearted, almost farcical. Curator: That is, perhaps, the point. It seems Rosaspina offers a Neoclassical interpretation, framing a notoriously violent mythological event—the abduction of Proserpina by Pluto—through the guise of an idyllic landscape, softened and celebrated by these Amorini. It's an allegory. Editor: Softened is certainly the word for it. To have putti celebrate rape seems a blatant trivialization of trauma. I wonder if Rosaspina intends to critique how violence against women is often normalized or even romanticized? Curator: It's a delicate balancing act, I agree. Notice the clear composition, the idealized figures—typical of the Classical-Realism style Rosaspina mastered. He's leaning on familiar imagery to almost sanitize what is inherently a disturbing story. Perhaps to teach a moral lesson? Editor: Maybe... or is he subtly endorsing it, embedding it in the established order of the era? After all, it’s no coincidence it was made at a time with different social mores. I think it speaks volumes about the relationship between power, myth, and artistic license. This landscape has no escape routes for Proserpina. Curator: That's certainly one reading, given our understanding of today's standards. Still, as a history print intended for perhaps an educated male gaze of the time, would the scene incite thoughts that way, I wonder? Or only remind him of his supposed inherent and lawful control of domestic order? Editor: Precisely, this makes me think that it wasn't that far from the male perspective of its patron and of most of society. Curator: Well, it seems Rosaspina made the putti hold hands and perform an act of historical revision. Editor: It truly forces one to confront the uncomfortable intersections of beauty, violence, and the normalization of harmful narratives. Curator: It provides fertile ground for discussions about power dynamics in artistic representation. Editor: It's left me feeling rather conflicted, to say the least. Curator: Me as well, a potent reminder of art's capacity to both reflect and shape cultural norms.