Bronze statuette of a Dioscurus

Private collection, Roger Peyrefitte (1907-2000), Paris, acquired in the late 1950s/early 1960s (by repute)
Private collection, Switzerland, acquired from the above, thence by descent

 Roger Peyrefitte (1907-2000)
Roger Peyrefitte was a French writer, author of numerous novels, an anthology of Greek texts and historical biographies.
Born in Castres in 1907, he was educated by the Lazarist brothers. A brilliant student in the humanities, he continued his studies at the Faculté des Lettres in Toulouse, before entering the École des Sciences politiques, from which he graduated in 1930.
Peyrefitte's taste was boastful, perverse and not without its share of vulgarity. He wrote of himself in Jérôme Garcin's dictionary: ‘By that time, he had realised that there were only two things that mattered: money and a name, if you weren't born with one’. 
He became embassy secretary in Athens from 1933 to 1938. In February 1945, he retired from the diplomatic service and began a literary career the same year. 
Thanks to his erudition, his vast classical culture, his concise style with its rich vocabulary, his biting irony and his abundant output, he became a leading French writer. His masterpiece remains the biography of Alexander III of Macedonia (La jeunesse d'Alexandre; Les Conquêtes d'Alexandre; Alexandre le Grand). This work relates the life of the greatest conqueror of Antiquity from a variety of angles, incorporating social, geographical and mythological knowledge. Peyrefitte was a passionate collector in many fields.