A Roman Abducting a Sabine Woman 1571 - 1628

This is Jan Harmensz. Muller’s engraving, made in the late 16th or early 17th century, of a Roman abducting a Sabine woman. The print depicts a scene from Roman history that was often mined for its dramatic and symbolic content. As the story goes, Romulus, the founder of Rome, populated his new city with men but struggled to find wives for them. He invited the neighboring Sabine people to a festival, and while they were distracted, the Romans abducted the Sabine women. Muller's image, made in the Netherlands, presents a vision of the classical past that is both idealized and violent. The muscular figures, rendered with great attention to anatomical detail, recall the traditions of classical sculpture, revived in the Renaissance. The image is not just an illustration of a historical event, but also a reflection on the nature of power, desire, and the founding of civilizations. To understand this print fully, we might turn to historical texts describing the event, and contemporary interpretations of it, to understand the image’s place in the visual culture of its time.