The Abduction of the Sabine Women (1585): Art, History and Details

The Abduction of the Sabine Women (1585) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Andrea Andreani (Italian, about 1558–1610); Giambologna (Flemish, active Italy, 1529–1608).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

The legend of the Sabine women relates to Rome’s early history when, to ensure the future population of the city, its founder Romulus hosted a festival for neighboring peoples, including the Sabines. At an appointed moment during the festivities, each young man of Rome kidnapped an unmarried Sabine woman to be his bride. Later, when the Sabines attacked Rome, it was the abducted Sabine women who courageously stopped the brutal battle and demanded peace between their fathers, brothers, and husbands. Andreani’s chiaroscuro woodcut, with its brown-red tone, subtle shadows, and warm highlights, was a fitting choice for reproducing Giambologna’s original bronze relief, created for the pedestal of his sculpture The Abduction of a Sabine Woman.

Object facts

• Title: The Abduction of the Sabine Women
• Date: 1585
• Creator attribution: Andrea Andreani (Italian, about 1558–1610); Giambologna (Flemish, active Italy, 1529–1608)
• Culture: Italy
• Type: Print
• Technique: chiaroscuro woodcut (in three shades of brown and black)
• Collection: PR - Chiaroscuro
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1981.15

Collection credit

Bequest of Grover Higgins by exchange

Further reading listed by the museum

• Goldfarb, Hilliard T. “Chiaroscuro Woodcut Technique and Andrea Andreani.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 68, no. 9 (November 1981): 307–330.
• Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1981.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 69, no. 2 (February 1982): 39–82.
• Young, Rachel A., "Andrea Andreani's Abduction of the Sabine Women after Giambologna," Print Quarterly XLI/4 (December 2024): pp 379-393.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.