Castor and Pollux (San Ildefonso Group), c 1630s, numbered 37 bottom right

Ink and black wash drawing on paper. Mounted on paper.

Dimensions: Height 11 cm x Width 7,2 cm ( 4 1/3 x 2.8 in)

Executed in delicate pen and ink with nuanced grey wash, this original drawing captures the famous Roman marble sculpture group known historically as Castor and Pollux (or the San Ildefonso Group). Rendered with expressive line and subtle shading, the composition depicts two idealised ephebes leaning toward one another, one slumping gently against his companion’s shoulder while offering a libation over a low altar. The sheet corresponds to Plate 37 of Perrier’s seminal print suite, Segmenta Nobilium Signorum et Statuarum (1638).

In classical mythology, the Dioscuri: Castor and Pollux, symbolise an unbreakable bond of devotion, famously choosing to share immortality so they would never be parted by death. Within 17th-century visual culture, this myth offered an important vehicle for exploring male closeness, physical idealisation, and shared devotion. By framing tactile intimacy and physical beauty within the respectable lineage of Roman antiquity, Perrier’s draftsmanship allowed collectors to engage with a classicised, deeply sympathetic portrait of male togetherness, one where male affection and mutual reliance are enshrined as divine virtues.

François Perrier (Pontarlier, 1590 - Paris, 1649), was a French painter, printmaker, and draftsman born in Pontarlier, Franche-Comté. A pivotal figure in 17th-century European art, Perrier spent extensive periods in Rome studying under Baroque master Giovanni Lanfranco and working alongside Simon Vouet. As a key advocate for classical order over dramatic ornamentation, he returned to Paris where he helped found the prestigious Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in 1648 and trained future masters like Charles Le Brun.

Perrier’s enduring global legacy rests on his foundational print series and preparatory studies, most notably Segmenta Nobilium Signorum et Statuarum (1638). By recording 100 of Rome’s most celebrated ancient sculptures, Perrier effectively created an early visual database. His drawings and etchings served as the ultimate visual standard and reference guide for generations of European artists, collectors, and academies studying the classical human form.

Haskell, Francis & Penny, Nicholas. Taste and the Antique: The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500–1900. Yale University Press.

(Cites Perrier’s 1638 suite as one of the earliest published visual indexes documenting the San Ildefonso / Castor and Pollux group in 17th-century Rome; see discussion in UNIGE Academic Archive).