The kidnapping of Europa, Bronze sculpture group at Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas Airport, Spain.

El rapto de Europa is a bronze sculpture by Fernando Botero, made in 1992, showing a nude Europa seated on Zeus in the form of a bull, both with the rounded volumes typical of the artist. It stands between the car park and the arrivals area of Terminal T1 at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport. On one side of the prismatic base are the signature "Botero 3/3" and the foundry stamp "Fonderia Mariani, Pietrasanta (Lu), Italy".

Botero made the bronze in 1992. It came to Spain with the 21 pieces of the open-air exhibition "Botero en Madrid", held on the Paseo de Recoletos in spring 1994. Of the five works that stayed in the country, this one was bought by Aena, the state airport company, which placed it at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas between the car park and the arrivals terminal T1.

The subject comes from the Greek myth of Europa carried off by Zeus in the form of a bull, told in Ovid's Metamorphoses. Botero plays down the violence: Europa is nude and relaxed, the god confident and even smiling. The bronze base carries the signature "Botero 3/3" and the foundry stamp "Fonderia Mariani, Pietrasanta (Lu), Italy".

The sculpture stands between the car park and the arrivals area of Terminal T1 at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport, not in Terminal 4. Look for the prismatic base: on one side are the signature "Botero 3/3" and the foundry stamp "Fonderia Mariani, Pietrasanta (Lu), Italy".

On one side of the prismatic base, next to the signature "Botero 3/3", a rectangular foundry stamp reads "FONDERIA / MARIANI / PIETRASANTA (LU) ITALY", identifying the Italian workshop where the bronze was cast. Two other copies exist, in Chicago and in Medellín, Botero's birthplace. In 2007 a 2002 prueba of the sculpture, 61 x 45.7 x 28.5 cm, sold at Christie's for 361,000 dollars.