The twins Castor and Pollux seize Phoebe and Hilaeira, daughters of King Leucippus, and haul them up towards their horses. Four bodies and two horses twist into one tight, turning mass against a low landscape and open sky. Rubens painted the figures and the specialist Jan Wildens the landscape; the Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm bought it in Antwerp in 1716.
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Castor wears armour, Pollux the boxer is bare-chested. A putto steadies Castor's horse while Pollux's rears, and a putto's black wing hints at the twins' fate.
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