Rome, the city of Romans, beauty, unsettling stories, and practices. Spending over eight days in Rome has taught me to appreciate the beauty of the human form and the wonder that art can bring. Looking at some of the works of art is nearly magical. The way that sculptors can make movement and emotion so visible on materials such as marble and bronze is rather inspiring. Most of the time I can barely draw a proper stick figure, let alone carve a biblical scene out of a rock! However, the post today is about a statue we saw in Florence.
One of my favorite pieces of art was the Abduction of the Sabine Women. The piece itself tells the story of early Rome. So the story says that in the early days of Rome, when they were all men that inhabited Palatine Hill, the Romans attacked the tribe living on Avantine Hill, known as the Sabine Tribe. Basically, they defeated the Sabine men and during that time decided to ‘abduct’ the Sabine women, which is rather brutal and dark. In fact, the practice carrying your wife over the threshold is derived from that, which is a little unsettling.
The piece itself is rather gorgeous. It is comprised into three different figures, all carved from one block of marble. The top figure is one of the Sabine Women. She looks as though she is lamenting her fate and fighting with all her might to get away with from the Roman soldier lifting her up. The tension in her arm is very humanistic and life like, as if she is actively working against the man holding her up. Her face looks like a mixture of pain, anguish, anger, and fear. The outstretched arm looks as if she is trying to draw attention to her plight and escape. The second figure is a Roman soldier. The soldier is picking up the Sabine woman, while also stepping over the Sabine Man. I think this could be allegorical, in a way. The Roman soldier is picking up the woman, while the man lays below trying to do something but unable to. It matches up with Rome. The Romans take the fruits, the women, the treasure, while the men, or the culture they have just defeated is left to watch and be unable to do anything to stop it. His face is very stern, very driven. Finally, the third person is a Sabine man. His face matches up with woman and the distress in his movement and muscles is very much so present in the arm reaching upwards.
Ciao!
