The Dioscuri on Monte Cavallo; verso: Study of a Spiral Staircase

Art Historical Context

This delicate pen-and-brown-ink drawing by Dutch artist Maarten van Heemskerck captures the monumental ancient statues of the Dioscuri—Castor and Pollux—on Rome’s Monte Cavallo (Quirinal Hill). Created around 1533, the sheet records the two heroic male nudes restraining their rearing horses, celebrated remnants of classical antiquity that fascinated Renaissance visitors. Van Heemskerck’s precise linework conveys both the sculptures’ powerful anatomy and dynamic movement, reflecting the period’s growing interest in documenting and studying Rome’s surviving antiquities. On the verso, the artist...