The Rape of the Sabine Women

The Rape of the Sabine Women The painting is an illustration of the legend according to which the founder of Rome, Romulus, wanted to attract women from the neighbouring Sabine tribe to Rome, which lacked women. To achieve this, he ordered a feast to be held in honour of Neptune and invited the Sabines, who came without weapons. During the feast, he gave a sign to his countrymen who attacked the Sabine women and captured them, choosing only the unmarried ones. The captured Sabine women were quickly reconciled with their captors, and according to the historian Titus Livius, one of them, Hersilia, despite being already married, became Romulus’ wife. This theme has often been depicted in the visual arts by many prominent painters and sculptors. On the painting kept in Łańcut, the action takes place in a large room opening up with three arcades through which fragments of architecture can be seen. The composition of the painting is overloaded with a mass of human and animal figures linked together by the dynamics of movement. In the centre of the composition, above the figures taking part in the action, there is a statue of a young man (Neptune?) on a pedestal. This silhouette is well-seen in the background made of a bright opening of the central arcade. The contours of the arcade and the statue are kept in warm brown colours. The figures of the women standing behind the statue and defending themselves from capturing by raising their hands are lighter in tone. In the centre of the composition, the most accurately modelled group consists of three women desperately pulling themselves out of the hands of the men trying to capture them. On the right of the painting, a rider on a brown horse holds a captured woman in front of him with her arms outstretched. The rider on the left, on a grey horse, leans towards the woman protecting herself with her arms. The painting, framed in a narrow wooden frame decorated with a gold stripe, is currently exhibited in the Room under the Wooden Ceiling on the first floor of the Łańcut Castle.