In 1699, Girardon produced a marble group ‘The Abduction of Proserpine by Pluto’ for the gardens at Versailles. A short time later, reduced copies of the work began to be produced, which influenced the popularisation of this image in Europe. Today, reduced versions of the ‘Abduction’ can be found, for example, in the collections of Versailles, Dresden or in the collection belonging to the British royal family.

The bronze on display was previously in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden, alongside three similar versions of Girardon's work, before it found its way into the Castle's collection. Of these works, one sculpture was purchased by Raymond Le Plat for August II - but it is hard to ascertain which one. The piece was donated to the collection of the Royal Castle in Warsaw by the Government of the German Democratic Republic in 1978.

[ZPS]