The Rape of a Sabine Woman, Frontal View

Jan Harmensz Müller produced a series of masterful engravings from three different vantage points after wax models for Adriaen de Vries’s sculpture Rape of a Sabine. Although De Vries cast his sculpture around 1620, long after Müller produced his prints, he replicated the style of antique bronzes. Müller’s series highlights both his engraving skill and his ability to mimic sculpture in the round. The ancient story, in which Roman soldiers requisitioned brides en masse, is particularly apt for this purpose, for the images showcase the twists and turns of conflicting male and female bodies.