Pluto, god of the underworld, hoists the struggling Proserpina as three-headed Cerberus guards the threshold at his feet. Bernini finished the group at 23 for Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who soon gave it to Ludovico Ludovisi, nephew of the new pope. Designed to be read in full from the front, it makes hard marble behave like yielding flesh.
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Pluto's fingers sink into her thigh as if into soft skin, and tears run down her cheek as she pushes his face away.
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