#aic

down in a hole, losin’ my soul down in a hole, losin’ control i’d like to fly but my wings have been so denied

The Abduction of the Sabine Women by Luca Giordano, 1675

I am so fucking obsessed with how ugly this painting is – and particularly obsessed with how ugly the faces of the women are.

This is obviously not a pretty story, referred to as “the legendary rape of the Sabine women”; and although this title (traditionally known as The Rape of the Sabine Women; Poussin, Rubens, Degas, and Picasso title it so, and even Giordano titles it so for seven of his eight versions) of Giordano’s has made it more palatable at first glance, this is the one of the only depictions I have ever seen as an art enjoyer and art historian that doesn’t beautify a story of rape or portray it as anything more than a violent act and a vicious, coordinated attack of warfare.

The Abduction of the Sabine Women is an unbalanced composition, a confusing mass of bodies within a muddied color palette. There are no jewel-like or soft pastel colors to distract or entrance the viewer (the red, yellow, and blue of Baroque are still present, but undeniably muddled). Moving along the Gutenberg Diagonal, there is nothing but a smoke-choked sky at the top left and little more than muddy earth at the bottom right. No one is posed prettily, and there is no daintily draped clothing: amidst stretched limbs and writhing bodies, fabrics tear and twist uncomfortably. There are decorative elements, but the pearls threaded through hair and hanging from ears, necks, wrists, and ankle only serve to highlight the desperate wrestling of bodies. No women half-heartedly struggle with – before succumbing to – muscular soldiers whose bodies and faces make them look more heroic than horrific (looking at you, da Cortona). Incredibly, we see none of the men’s faces fully. We see the women’s faces, not beatific or plaintive but contorted in anger and grief and pain. The central Sabine woman – though she isn’t placed in the center, which intentionally unbalances the composition – is fighting with her entire body, and her face is ugly with fear. Each of the women is an active figure: every single one of the women in the forefront has a hand up, gripping or pushing or raised in protest.