Capitoline Wolf

Bronze sculpture of a she wolf suckling twin infants, inspired by the founding legend of Rome
the statue in Rome

The Capitoline Wolf (Italian: Lupa Capitolina) is a bronze sculpture depicting a scene from the legend of the founding of Rome. The sculpture shows a she wolf suckling the mythical twin founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus. According to the legend, when King Numitor, grandfather of the twins, was overthrown by his brother Amulius in Alba Longa, the usurper ordered them to be cast into the Tiber River. They were rescued by a she wolf that cared for them until a herdsman, Faustulus, found and raised them. The age and origin of the Capitoline Wolf are controversial. The statue was long thought to be an Etruscan work of the fifth century BC, with the twins added in the late 15th century AD, probably by sculptor Antonio del Pollaiuolo. However, radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dating in the 21st century has suggested that the wolf portion of the statue may have been cast between 1021 and 1153, though the results are inconsistent, and there is yet no consensus for a revised dating. In a conference on this theme, most academics continued to support an ancient Etruscan origin. An analysis of the metal suggests that it contains lead from a source not known to have operated during medieval times. The image of the she wolf suckling Romulus and Remus has been a symbol of Rome since ancient times, and one of the most recognizable icons of ancient mythology. The sculpture has been housed since 1471 in the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the Campidoglio (the ancient Capitoline Hill), Rome, Italy, and many replicas are in various places around the world.

The sculpture is somewhat larger than life size, standing high and long. The wolf is depicted in a tense, watchful pose, with alert ears and glaring eyes, which are watching for danger. By contrast, the human twins – executed in a completely different style – are oblivious to their surroundings, absorbed by their suckling.

The she wolf from the legend of Romulus and Remus was regarded as a symbol of Rome from ancient times. Several ancient sources refer to statues depicting the wolf suckling the twins. Livy reports in his Roman history that a statue was erected at the foot of the Palatine Hill in 295 BC. Pliny the Elder mentions the presence in the Roman Forum of a statue of a she wolf that was "a miracle proclaimed in bronze nearby, as though she had crossed the Comitium while Attus Navius was taking the omens". Cicero also mentions a statue of the she wolf as one of a number of sacred objects on the Capitoline that had been inauspiciously struck by lightning in 65 BC: "it was a gilt statue on the Capitol of a baby being given suck from the udders of a wolf." Cicero also mentions the wolf in De Divinatione 1.20 and 2.47. The Capitoline Wolf was widely assumed to be the very sculpture described by Cicero, due to the presence of damage to the sculpture's paw, which was believed to correspond to the lightning strike of 65 BC. The 18th century German art historian Johann Joachim Winckelmann attributed the statue to an Etruscan maker in the fifth century BC, based on how the wolf's fur was depicted. It was first attributed to the Veiian artist Vulca, who decorated the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus; later scholars attribute it to an unknown Etruscan artist of around 480 or 470 BC. Winckelmann correctly identified a Renaissance origin for the twins; they were probably added in 1471 AD or later. During the 19th century, a number of researchers questioned Winckelmann's dating of the bronze. August Emil Braun, the secretary of the Archaeological Institute of Rome, proposed in 1854 that the damage to the wolf's paw had been caused by an error during casting. Wilhelm Fröhner, the conservator of the Louvre, stated in 1878 that the style of the statue was attributable to the Carolingian art period rather than the Etruscan, and in 1885, Wilhelm von Bode also stated that he was of the view that the statue was most likely a medieval work. These views were largely disregarded, though, and had been forgotten by the 20th century. However, a recent study by John Osborne at the British School at Rome concluded that the radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dates were totally inconsistent. He pointed out that metal from which the wolf is made is of the Etruscan type, using copper from Sardinia, and that there is no sign of the adulteration common in medieval times. On the balance of probabilities, Osborne argues that the wolf should be considered Etruscan. The 12th century English cleric Magister Gregorius wrote a descriptive essay De Mirabilibus Urbis Romae and recorded in an appendix three pieces of sculpture he had neglected; one was the wolf in the portico, at the principal entrance to the Lateran Palace. He mentions no twins, for he noted that she was set up as if stalking a bronze ram that was nearby, which served as a fountain. The wolf had also served as a fountain, Magister Gregorius thought, but it had been broken off at the feet and moved to where he saw it. The present day Capitoline Wolf could not have been the sculpture seen by Benedict and Gregorius, if its newly attributed age is accepted, though it could have been a replacement for an earlier (now lost) depiction of the Roman wolf. In December 1471, Pope Sixtus IV ordered the present sculpture to be transferred to the Palazzo dei Conservatori on the Capitoline Hill, and the twins were added some time around then. The Capitoline Wolf joined a number of other genuinely ancient sculptures transferred at the same time, to form the nucleus of the Capitoline Museum.

The governments of Italy and the mayors of Rome donated copies of the statue to various places around the world. Benito Mussolini continued this practice and especially favoured the image. To encourage American goodwill, he sent several copies of the Capitoline Wolf to U. S. 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 to the city of Rome, Georgia, the same year. The programme of conservation undertaken in the 1990s resulted in an exhibition devoted to the Lupa Capitolina and her iconography. Anthony Mann's 1964 epic film The Fall of the Roman Empire prominently features an enlarged replica prop of the Capitoline Wolf as a republican symbol at the back of the Senate House, where, historically, the altar and statue of Victory would have stood. The 1976 TV series I, Claudius also features the statue in its depiction of the interior of the Senate House. In the 2009 film Agora, set in 5th century Alexandria, the Capitoline Wolf—complete with the del Pollaiolo twins—can be seen in the prefect's palace. This is visible in the scene before Hypatia's capture, directly behind her character. In Rick Riordan's The Son of Neptune, Lupa is the wolf that trains all demigods who wish to enter Camp Jupiter. She trains Percy Jackson and is mentioned that she trained Jason Grace also. It is also possible that she trained Frank Zhang, Hazel Levesque, and Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano. Although she is stern and tough, she still has a soft side. In the first episode of the American television programme The Addams Family, a mirror image sculpture of the Capitoline Wolf is on display in the Addams's living room. It can be seen standing atop a table, just to the right of the main staircase. The Boston Latin School uses an image on the cover of their agenda book as well as being the official school emblem. The Capitoline Wolf is used in Romania and Moldova as a symbol of the Latin origin of its inhabitants and in some major cities there are replicas of the original statue given as a gift from Italy at the beginning of the 20th century. The Capitoline Wolf is reimagined in Look at Me (new Capitoline Wolf), a 2011 installation by Polish artist Paweł Wocial.