Pluto and Proserpina

Bernini at 23 — the hand that presses into Proserpina's thigh as she struggles to escape, the marble yielding like living flesh under his fingers. One of the greatest technical miracles in the history of sculpture. The god of the Underworld abducting Persephone: her tears are carved in stone. No less important than Apollo and Daphne, carved simultaneously by the same 23-year-old, working on both groups at once.