Study for Rape of Persephone

This watercolor painting, “Study for Rape of Persephone,” is a study for a series I did on the myth of Persephone and Demeter. Persephone was kidnapped by Hades, the God of the underworld, and subsequently vanished from the earth. Her mother, Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, was wild with grief and neglected her duties, plunging the world into hunger. She roamed the earth searching for her daughter and eventually found her in the underworld. She brokered a deal with Pluto to return her only child for six months of the year. So, six months that Persephone is with us, and her mother, from spring and summer. When she is with Hades, her mother shuts down the growing season. 2003