Musei Capitolini

Lupa Capitolina (Capitoline Wolf): According to mythology Romulus and Remus were nursed by a she-wolf after being left on the River Tiber's banks. The twin sons of the god Mars and priestess Rhea Silvia are said to have later founded Rome on the Palatine in 753 BC. The brothers ended up fighting over who should be in charge of the city, a power struggle which ended only after Romulus killed his brother. This Etruscan bronze is dated stylistically to about 500-480 BC. The bronze figures of the twins were added in the late 15th century. One of the city's most enduring images, La Lupa can be seen all over Rome: on AS Roma t-shirts, inside things you shake-to-snow, on keychains, postcards, etc.

Mythical Roman cave unearthed
Italian archaeologists say they have found the long-lost underground grotto where ancient Romans believed a female wolf suckled the city's twin founders.
This story that came out while I was in Rome, to read it go to: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7104330.stm



The Capitoline Museums are a group of art and archeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the famous Capitoline Hill. The collection is vast and there must be a thousand heads if you were to try and count them.





The creation of the Capitoline Museums has been traced back to 1471, when Pope Sixtus IV donated a group of bronze statues of great symbolic value to the People of Rome. The collections are closely linked to the city of Rome, and most of the exhibits come from the city itself. The Lupa, and this Boy with the Thorn are two from the Pope Sixtus IV group.


The Boy with the Thorn, Greco-Roman (Roman copy of the lost 3rd century BCE Hellenistic original), was celebrated in the early Renaissance; and was one of the first Roman sculptures to be copied by artists. It remains a bit of a mystery as to who the boy might be, or why such an unglamourous act was immortalized in a statue? The naturalism and realism in this sculpture help connect us to the ancient world because we imagine he could a boy from any time or place. It helps us to see that when it comes down to simple events like stepping on a thorn, today's Wii kids aren't much different from the kids who used to sneak into Gladiator fights.
On a slightly different tangent, I also think this sculpture represents a valid argument against the idea that naturalism began in the early Renaissance.


Look up, there she is again! However, this time La Lupa has taken notice that she is suckling two young alpha males.