The Columns of Castor and Pollux, Girgenti
1913
Medium
lithograph
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.7301
Art Historical Context
Step into the sun-drenched ruins of ancient Sicily with Joseph Pennell's *The Columns of Castor andux, Girgenti* (1913), a masterful lithograph that captures the timeless majesty of this iconic Greek temple. Pennell, a pioneering American artist renowned for his architectural prints, visited Agrigento (then called Girgenti) during his European travels. His work depicts the surviving Doric columns of the Temple of Cast and Pollux, built around 430 BCE in the Valley of the Temples—a UNESCO World Heritage site symbolizing Magna Graecia's golden age. Lithography, Pennell's preferred medium, allow...
About the Artist
Joseph Pennell · 1857–1926
Joseph Pennell (1857–1926) was born in Philadelphia to Quaker parents and displayed an early aptitude for drawing, finding solace in sketching amid a challenging childhood. He received initial drawing instruction from James R. Lambdin and his first etching lessons from Stephen Ferris in 1879. Pennell attended night classes at the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art before studying at ...