Capitoline Wolf

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The ancient Etruscan bronze Capitoline Wolf suckles the infant twins Romulus and Remus, who were added, probably by Antonio del Pollaiuolo, in the late 15th century.

The bronze Capitoline Wolf (Italian: Lupa Capitolina), is a 5th century BC Etruscan statue located in Rome, Italy.

Iconic of the city's founding, the Capitoline Wolf has been housed since 1473 inside the Museo Nuovo in the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the Campidoglio (known in ancient times as Capitoline Hill). It depicts a she-wolf suckling a pair of human twin infant boys, representing the legendary founders of the city of Rome, Romulus and Remus.

According to the founding myth, the twins' grandfather Numitor was overthrown by his brother Amulius, who ordered them to be cast into the River Tiber. They were rescued by a she-wolf who cared for them until a herdsman, Faustulus, found and raised them.

An Italian poster of 1943 adapts the Lupa Capitolina to encourage patriotic Italian buyers of war bonds

The Etruscan bronze is dated stylistically about 500-480 BC. The bronze figures of the twins were added in the late fifteenth century, perhaps by Antonio del Pollaiuolo, in accordance with the story of Romulus and Remus.

The bronze wolf was said to have been unearthed under the northwest spur of Palatine Hill, and was noted at the Lateran Palace from the beginning of the 9th century AD. In the 10th century Chronicon of Benedict of Soracte, the monk chronicler writes of the institution of a supreme court of justice "in the Lateran palace, in the place called [graffiti], viz, the mother of the Romans." Trials and executions "at the Wolf" are recorded from time to time until 1450. Paolo di Liello speaks of "two highwaymen, whose hands, cut by the executioner, were hanged at the Wolf." It was removed to the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the Campidoglio in 1473, by order of Sixtus IV. She appeared in a woodcut illustration of Mirabilia Urbis Romae (Rome, 1499) already with the infant twins [link].

The image was favored by Benito Mussolini who cast himself as the founder of the "New Rome". To encourage American goodwill, he sent several copies of the Capitoline Wolf to American cities. In 1929 he sent one replica for a Sons of Italy national convention in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was switched for another one in 1931, which still stands in Eden Park, Cincinnati. Another replica was given by Mussolini to the city of Rome, Georgia the same year.It stands in front of Rome's City Hall ["A gift of ancient Rome to new Rome"]. In its first years, though it was appreciated by a minority as a work of art, when important events were scheduled in the City Auditorium, the twins were diapered and the wolf was modestly draped. When Italy declared war in 1940, threats against the sculpture resulted in its being warehoused for safe-keeping. A third copy went to New York.

The Capitoline Wolf was used on both the emblem and the poster for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.

The programme of conservation undertaken in the 1990s resulted in an exhibition devoted to the Lupa Capitolina and her iconography.

References

• [(Lacus Curtius website) Rodolfo Lanciani, Ancient Rome in the Light of Recent Discoveries ch. X]
• [Lupa Capitolina Elettronica] A site devoted to the Capitoline Wolf (in progress)
• [Capitoline Museums:Exhibition "The Capitoline She-Wolf", June-October 2000]
• [New York Times travel guide to Rome]: "the Capitoline Wolf, a 6th-century BC Etruscan bronze, holds a place of honor in the museum; the suckling twins were added during the Renaissance to adapt the statue to the legend of Romulus and Remus."
• [Cincinnati's Capitoline Wolf]

Footnotes