The Rape of Proserpine (after Rubens)

Willem van Herp (Antwerp ca.1614 - Antwerp 1677). Oil painting on copper, The Rape of Proserpine (after Rubens) by Willem van Herp (Antwerp ca.1614 - Antwerp 1677), mid 17th century, after an etching by Pieter Soutman, after his own drawing, after an oil sketch by Rubens for a lost original from Blenheim Palace. This slightly unusual depiction of the Rape of Proserpine, with its inclusion of the figure of Athene / Minerva (because it is taken from Claudian’s poem on The Rape of Proserpine, rather than from Ovid’s Metamorphoses) shows Proserpine, whom Diana, Athene, and Venus had encouraged to pick flowers, being abducted by Pluto in his chariot, drawn by four black horses, as Athene threatens him, and the other goddesses and a Nereid look ineffectually on. Arlington Court, Devon