Caius Between Statues of Castor and Pollux

In a small notebook now in the British Library, DGR described two scenes from Charles Merivale's A History of the Romans Under the Empire. The first citation, referring to Caius Caesar and a Chapel at Lake Nemius, was followed by this subject for an unexecuted picture. If completed, if would have depicted Caius standing between the statues of Castor and Pollux, “to be adored by the people.” The idea for this scene was taken directly from Merivale's text, which records how the emperor, who had declared his own divinity, would often stand between these two statues to “exhibit himself for the adoration of the passers by” (Merivale, vol. 6, p. 62).