*Rape of the Sabine Women, by Nicolas Poussin, Rome, 1637–38 (Louvre Museum
The original purpose and location of this painting remain unknown although it was probably in the collection of Cardinal Richelieu in 1676 .
The scene illustrates the famous episode in early Roman history , as narrated by Plutarch, in which Romulus in a ruse to increase the population of Rome, invited the Sabines, a tribe living near Rome to attend some games , during which he ordered his soldiers to carry off number of unmarried women. The Sabines were defeated.The Sabine women in the meantime accepted their lot, the population of Rome was duly increased and peace was made with the Sabine tribe.
Thus the story is not one of the brutal violence : as Plutarch described it. The Romans did not commit this rape wantonly , but with a design ,purely of forming an alliance with their neighbors by the greatest surest bonds.
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