This modello, or detailed oil study, is one of a group of 12 -- ten of which are in the National Gallery -- that Giordano made in preparation for his ceiling frescoes in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence in 1682--85. The overall theme of these highly elaborate, showpiece frescoes is the progress of mankind by means of Wisdom and Virtue.

The modello is a study for the grand Galleria and corresponds with the left half of the ceiling decoration above the north wall, opposite the windows. The fresco forms part of a continuous frieze of interconnected allegorical and mythological scenes that runs around the lower part of the ceiling. The title of this scene -- which is only a subsidiary detail in this painting and in the fresco running the length of the wall -- refers to the story of Pluto, god of the underworld, who abducted Proserpine, daughter of the harvest goddess Ceres.

Pluto is shown at the right of this painting, manhandling Proserpine into his chariot, helped by a putto with a forked spear. On the ceiling itself, they form the figure group in the centre of the north wall. Above them fly the harpies, half-woman and half-bird, among the cruellest guardians of Pluto’s realm. On the extreme right edge of the painting, you can see the leg of one of the figures in the adjacent part of the fresco's design, which depicts Ceres herself and celebrates the bounty of nature and agriculture. Although they were clearly conceived as a single continuous scene, close examination of the two paintings unframed has shown that the two scenes were never part of a single canvas, later divided, but were always separate works.

There is a lot more going on here than the title suggests. As well as depicting the abduction, the canvas is populated with mythological figures associated with death, judgement and the afterlife, and those who suffered eternal punishment either for hubris (pride) or for challenging the authority of the gods. There are also allusions to the elements of fire and air which, along with water and earth, form part of the ceiling's iconography. It is not certain who the three figures to the left of Pluto represent, but they are probably Minos, Ajax and Rhadamanthys, who judged the souls of the deceased. In the sky high above them are Dedalus and his son Icarus, who was punished for flying too close to the sun.

At the centre of the painting stands Cerberus, the three-headed dog, guarding the entrance to Hades (the underworld). To its left is the boat of Charon, the ferryman who carries the souls of the dead across the River Styx; several are being shepherded on board by Death, who holds a scythe. Behind Charon and Cerberus is Vulcan, god of fire, working at his forge. In the background to the left are some of the mythological figures who challenged the gods of Olympus and, as a result, suffered eternal tortures: Sisyphus, condemned to carry a great boulder uphill on his shoulders; Ixion, bound to a revolving wheel; and Tityus, his liver being ripped out by a vulture.

Above them, the winged figure with the bugle may be a trumpeter sounding the initial rebellion against the gods, though he has also been identified as Prometheus; he was omitted from the final fresco on the ceiling. At the centre of the painting, enveloped in a star-studded blue cloak are the hovering figures of Night and Sleep.

Style: Baroque, Academic