The Rape of the Sabine Women, by Giambologna (1579–1583)
The sculpture depicts three figures (a man lifting a woman into the air while a second man crouches) and was carved from a single block of marble. Originally intended as nothing more than a demonstration of the artist's ability to create a complex sculptural group, its subject matter, the mythical rape of the Sabines, had to be invented after Francesco de' Medici, the Grand Duke of Florence decreed that it be put on public display in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza della Signoria.