Capitoline Wolf with Romulus and Remus

1552

Printed with delicate black lines and hatching on cream-white paper, a she-wolf stands as two male infants attempt to nurse at her teats in this horizontal engraving. The wolf stands sideways facing our left with her head turned to look at us, eight teats hanging heavily along her underside. Her wide eyes are framed by raised but furrowed brows, and cup-like ears curl back on her round head. Her jaws are slightly open revealing sharp teeth. Her lean body is partly covered by tight clusters of parallel, undulating lines around her head, neck, and along her back, suggesting fur. Beneath her, one boy sits, rocking back on a low rock, and the other kneels. Both tilt their heads back and spread their arms wide as they reach for her teats. The wolf and boys are on a slab-like plinth, which in turn rests on a base inscribed with text on its face. The Latin text reads, “LVPAE ROMVLVM ET REMVM VRBIS CONDITORES LACTANTIS ANTIQVVM AC AENEVM IN CAPITOLIO SIGNVM. ANT LAFRERII FORMIS ROMAE MDLII.”

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    engraving

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Lois and Robert Erburu

  • Dimensions

    plate: 26.2 x 34.2 cm (10 5/16 x 13 7/16 in.)

  • Accession

    2000.119.1.f

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Huelsen 1921, no. 47, State ABCa

Associated Artworks

See all 82 artworks

Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius

Monogrammist CB

1551

Trajanic Relief from the Arch of Constantine

Nicolas Beatrizet

1540

Colosseum

Nicolas Beatrizet

1540


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Weingarten Monastery, Swabia, 1632. (Susan Schulman Printseller, New York); purchased 2000 by NGA.

Associated Names

Bibliography

1921

  • Huelsen, Christian. "Das Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae des Antonio Lafreri." Collectanea variae doctrinae Leoni Olschki. Munich: 1921.

1976

  • McGinniss, Lawrence R. and Herbert Mitchell. Catalogue of the Earl of Crawford's 'Speculum Magnificentiae Now in the Avery Achitectural Library. New York, 1976.

Watermarks

pilgrim with a staff

Wikidata ID

Q75431420


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