Giulio Licinio, 'The Rape of the Sabines', after 1566

The Rape of the Sabines is one of a series of paintings that show scenes from ancient Roman history. They were made to decorate a room and were originally painted on panel, although they have since been transferred to canvas. Their size and horizontal format suggests they were probably intended to be inserted into the wall panelling, as was common practice in Renaissance Venice.

Three other pictures in the series are in the National Gallery’s collection: The Attack on Cartagena, The Continence of Scipio and The Intervention of the Sabine Women. A further two pictures from the series, Coriolanus and Scipio rewarding the Soldiers, are in a private collection.

The Roman author Livy relates an episode in which the men of Rome abducted women from the neighbouring cities of the region. The event was said to have happened shortly after the founding of Rome by Romulus and his mainly male followers. The Romans tried to negotiate with the Sabines, who lived in the surrounding region, to secure wives to start families, but the Sabines refused to allow their women to marry the Romans.

According to Livy, the Romans planned a festival of Neptune to attract visitors from all the nearby towns. In Licinio’s painting, music is played on pipes as sacrifices are made at the altar of Neptune before crowds of visitors. A man raises his sword to behead the ox that has been pulled down to the ground before the altar. The monuments, fountains and obelisks of ancient Rome appear in the background. As Romulus gives the order from his throne, the Roman soldiers on the right grab the Sabine women who writhe and struggle for freedom as the Romans fight off the Sabine men. A dagger is drawn as a young woman is dragged from her father’s arms. Panic spreads to the crowd around the altar as women, guarded by their menfolk, search in vain for safety. Although the panel is darkened by discoloured varnish, it still conveys a strong and moving sense of the trauma and chaos of the moment.

Livy says that Romulus offered free choice and civic and property rights to the women. The Sabines finally declared war on the Romans but the two sides were held apart by the Sabine women, who said they would rather die themselves than see their husbands and fathers at war with one another. This part of the story is depicted in The Intervention of the Sabine Women.