Abduction of the Sabine Women
Johann Heinrich Schönfeld
c. 1640
Shortly after Rome was founded, the Romans abducted the women of the neighboring Sabines to be their wives. During the ensuing war, the Sabine women intervened, making peace between the two sides. Painted in Naples, this canvas seems to be the last of four versions of the subject painted by Johann Schönfeld (two in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg, another in a private collection).