The Rape of Persephone
This body of work utilizes portraiture and the chiaroscuro technique to illustrate the myth of Persephone and Hades. We see Persephone before and after her corruption by Hades. The beautiful daughter of Demeter (goddess of agriculture) and Zeus, Persephone was the goddess of spring. Together, Demeter and Persephone controlled the seasons and harvest. Zeus gifted Persephone as a wife to his brother, Hades (god of the underworld). Hades lured Persephone into his trap with beautiful flowers, at which point a hole opened in the earth and she was whisked down into the underworld. Though she fought him, she was forced to stay and be his bride. Persephone became goddess of the underworld. Eventually, she was allowed to split her time between her mother and Hades. When Persephone is with Demeter, it is spring and summer, the warmer months. The land is prosperous, the weather is glorious, Demeter and Perseophone are happy. When Persephone is in the underworld with her husband, the earth is dead and cold with winter, Demeter is heartbroken.