Abduction of the Sabine Women

Johann Heinrich Schönfeld

Cleveland Museum of Art

The painting depicts a chaotic scene with many figures. In the foreground, a man wearing a red cloth around his waist and no shirt is bending over, holding something. A woman in an orange dress and blue undergarment lies on the ground beside him, her right arm raised. To the left, a dark-haired woman in a long dress sits on a block, looking down, while a woman with her back to the viewer wearing a pink and blue dress tends to someone. A man on horseback, wearing a brown tunic, reaches out with his right arm. The background features a large stone building with arches and columns, and a blue sky with clouds. A white horse-drawn chariot is visible in the distance. Several people are on balconies and in the arches, watching the scene. The figures are dressed in ancient-style clothing.