The Abduction of Proserpine Alessandro Allori 1570

The Abduction of Proserpine
Alessandro Allori 1570
From the collection of
The J. Paul Getty Museum
Pluto, god of the Underworld, seizes Proserpine, daughter of the corn-goddess Ceres, ready to carry her down to his kingdom on a chariot drawn by black horses. Because Pluto allowed Proserpine to return to earth each spring for four months, the story recounted in Ovid's Metamorphosessymbolized seasonal death and rebirth.

Yet, even this dire subject takes place in an enchanted setting. Characteristically, Alessandro Allori added playful touches: slender, graceful nymphs, possibly Proserpine's former companions, pick flowers and frolic while being observed by satyrs. The abrupt truncation of Pluto's chariot and horses at the bottom of the panel and the bright, saturated colors display frequent characteristics of Florentine Mannerism. Allori's complicated, twisted poses and his cool, smooth style reflect the influence of his adopted father and master Bronzino.

Allori painted this panel, along with many others, as decoration for the Villa Salviati, a private home near Florence.
Details
Title: The Abduction of Proserpine
Creator: Alessandro Allori
Date: 1570
Physical Dimensions: 228.6 x 348 cm (90 x 137 in.)
External Link: Find out more about this object on the Museum website. http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/636/alessandro-allori-the-abduction-of-proserpine-italian-1570/
Medium: Oil on panel
Source Credit Line: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Object Type: Painting
Object Status: Permanent Collection
Number: 73.PB.73
Inscription: Inscribed below right foot of Pluto: "ALEXANDER ALORIVS. ANGELI BRONZINI / ALVMNVS FACIEBAT / A.D.M.D.LXX.".
Display Location: Not currently on view
Department: Paintings
Culture: Italian
Classification: Paintings

The J. Paul Getty Museum
Los Angeles, United States

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The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Villa in Malibu features Greek, Roman, and Etruscan antiquities presented in a setting modeled after a first-century Roman country house, the Villa dei Papiri in Herculaneum, Italy.

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Alessandro Allori
May 3, 1535 - Sep 22, 1607

Alessandro di Cristofano di Lorenzo del Bronzino Allori was an Italian portrait painter of the late Mannerist Florentine school.
In 1540, after the death of his father, he was brought up and trained in art by a close friend, often referred to as his 'uncle', the mannerist painter Agnolo Bronzino, whose name he sometimes assumed in his pictures. In some ways, Allori is the last of the line of prominent Florentine painters, of generally undiluted Tuscan artistic heritage: Andrea del Sarto worked with Fra Bartolomeo, Pontormo briefly worked under Andrea, and trained Bronzino, who trained Allori. Subsequent generations in the city would be strongly influenced by the tide of Baroque styles pre-eminent in other parts of Italy.
Freedberg derides Allori as derivative, claiming he illustrates "the ideal of Maniera by which art are generated out of pre-existing art." The polish of figures has an unnatural marble-like form as if he aimed for cold statuary.
http://hisour.com/art-medium/paintings/the-abduction-of-proserpine-alessandro-allori-1570/