“Swift, Swift the Great Twin Brethren Came Spurring from the East”
England: 1911. Watercolor and graphite on board, image measuring 12 x 9 inches, board 13.75 x 9.75 inches. Tipped to mat, 16 x 12 inches.
Original watercolor by Norman Ault for his 1911 illustrated edition of Thomas Babington Macaulay’s The Lays of Ancient Rome, first published in 1842. A scholar of poetry as well as an illustrator, Ault brought a deep understanding to Macaulay’s verse history, retellings of heroic episodes of classical history recited by generations of British schoolchildren. In this dramatic illustration for “The Battle of the Lake Regillus,” Ault depicts the armored twin gods Castor and Pollux tearing through the sky on their celestial horses: “Up to the Great Twin Brethren / We keep this solemn feast. / Swift, swift the Great twin Brethren / Came spurring from the east.” Castor and Pollux would eventually be transformed by Zeus into the constellation Gemini, serving as patrons to sailors, to whom they appeared as St. Elmo’s Fire. A captivating image of the Dioscuri by a great historical illustrator.