In this statue group, Bernini represents the king of the Underworld, Pluto, dragging Persephone into Hades. His muscles are so taut in the effort to hold the writhing body of Persephone, who desperately tries to flee from him, that Pluto’s hands sink into her flesh.

The two figures bear characteristics of the artistic style of Mannerism and classical sculpture. The sculptures were commissioned by the cardinal Scipione Borghese, who gave them to his successor, the cardinal Ludivico Ludivisi, nephew of Pope Gregory XV, a well-known collector of antiquities and works of art. In 1908, they were acquired by the Italian state.