For the first time, Francesca Marti’ has produced her Dreamers – Castor and Pollux as life-sized, seated figures in mirror-polished bronze. Created in 2015, and now cast in bronze in Madrid in 2022, the poses of the two sculptures are linked, and their affection is evident.
«I decided to put these two figures together because while my other Dreamers were all alone, these were like two souls in one,» says Francesca Marti’. «One rests his head on the shoulder of the other. And like my other Dreamers, Castor and Pollux are the names of bright stars.»
The constellation of Gemini is made up of the two twins Castor and Pollux. Castor was the mortal son of King Tyndarus, while Pollux was the immortal son of Zeus. Both Castor and Pollux, being identical twins, were inseparable in their looks and actions. Castor was a great horseman and Pollux was a great fighter. Together, they accompanied Jason on the Argo and saved the ship during a terrible storm. When Castor was later killed in battle, Pollux pleaded with Zeus to bring him back to life. Zeus agreed to immortalize both Castor and Pollux, but only if they would spend half of their time on Earth and the other half amongst the stars in the heavens. Since then, when sailors saw these two stars together in the skies, they knew that their journey would be prosperous.