This group, called the “Rape of Proserpine,” the work of Bernini, is in
the Villa Ludovisi, Rome. It has received much adverse criticism, but
has also been greatly admired. It represents Pluto holding Proserpine
in his brawny arms and, in spite of her struggles, carrying her off
to Hades. In artistic excellence it does not compare with “Apollo and
Daphne,” which Bernini executed much earlier in life.
[Illustration]
Cupid.
“The Child Angel of Mythology.”
“_Though little be the God of love,
Yet his arrows mighty are,
And his victories above
What the valiant reach by war.
Nor are his limits with the sky;
O’er the Milky Way he’ll fly,
And sometimes wound a deity._”
--SHIRLEY.