cape of Proserpine

The Rape of Proserpine (cape of Proserpine being a variant title referring to the god's cape or mantle) belongs to Tintoretto's engagement with Ovid's Metamorphoses, which provided several of his mythological subjects during his mature Venetian career. Pluto's abduction of Proserpine—seizing her as she gathered flowers in the fields of Enna—was a subject that allowed Tintoretto to combine dynamic figure groups, dramatic light effects, and the emotional intensity that distinguished his approach from the more restrained treatments of the same theme by his contemporaries. The painting belongs to his late period when his narrative force was at its most concentrated.

Tintoretto renders the abduction with the violent diagonal movement that characterizes his mature compositional style—figures lunging and twisting in contradictory directions that create a sense of unstoppable physical force. His characteristic rapid brushwork, applied in broad strokes of strong directional light against dark grounds, generates a turbulent, almost electric atmosphere. The contrast between bright highlights on flesh and clothing and deep shadow creates the chiaroscuro drama he developed partly in response to Titian.