[4] Cardinal Scipione Borghese commissioned the sculpture and gave it to the newly appointed Cardinal-nephew, Ludovico Ludovisi, possibly as a means of gaining favour.

Proserpina, the daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, is gathering flowers when she is seized by the god of the underworld, Pluto.

Pluto erupts from the ground in a chariot pulled by four black horses, and forces Proserpina down into the underworld with him, but not before Ceres could hear her daughter scream.

[8] The myth symbolizes the changing of the seasons: when Proserpina is with Pluto, nature dies and winter begins; when she resides with Ceres, the earth is spring.

[9] Bernini's statue depicts the climactic moment of the story, when Pluto grabs Proserpina, who struggles against him as he carries her over the border of the underworld, symbolized by a marble Cerberus.

[24] Lastly, Pluto's wide stance and the usage of a buttress bear resemblance to the Borghese Gladiator, which had recently been purchased by Scipione.

Small particles embedded in the surface of the terracotta suggest that a larger clay study existed but was used to make a plaster cast, destroying all but the head.

[26] The Rape of Proserpina is made of high-quality Carrara marble, which was hard to find in large blocks and highly coveted by 17th-century sculptors.

Given that the original sketch had no Cerberus, it's possible that the dog was added only when Bernini realized he needed a buttress to support the rest of the sculpture.

[30] The sculpture was placed against a wall,[31] upon a now-destroyed pedestal with a poem by Maffeo Barberini inscribed upon it: "Oh you who are bending down to gather flowers, \ behold as I am abducted to the home of the cruel Dis."

Finally, in 1908, the sculpture was bought by the Italian government and returned to the Galleria Borghese, where it was placed in the centre of the Salone degli Imperatori, a room in the museum.

Rudolf Wittkower noted: "representations of such rape scenes depended on Bernini's new, dynamic conception for the next hundred and fifty years".

[35] Howard Hibbard makes similar comments noting the realistic effects that Bernini had achieved via carving hard marble, such as the "texture of the skin, the flying ropes of hair, the tears of Persephone and above all the yielding flesh of the girl".

[4] The choice of incident to depict the story is commonly cited as well: Pluto's hands encircle the waist of Proserpina just as she throws her arms out in an attempt to escape.

The eighteenth-century French visitor Jerome de la Lande allegedly wrote: "Pluto's back is broken; his figure extravagant, without character, nobleness of expression, and its outline bad; the female one no better".

[37] Another French visitor to the Villa Ludovisi was equally critical, stating: "The head of Pluto is vulgarly gay; his crown and beard give him a ridiculous air, while the muscles are strongly marked and the figure poses.

While reminiscent of Mannerism, particularly Giambologna's The Rape of the Sabine Women, Bernini permits the viewer to absorb the scene from one single viewpoint.