The Capitoline Wolf (
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
: ''Lupa Capitolina'') is a
bronze sculpture depicting a scene from the legend of the
founding of Rome
The tale of the founding of Rome is recounted in traditional stories handed down by the ancient Romans themselves as the earliest history of their city in terms of legend and myth. The most familiar of these myths, and perhaps the most famous o ...
. The sculpture shows a
she-wolf suckling the mythical twin founders of Rome,
Romulus and Remus. According to the legend, when King
Numitor
In Roman mythology, King Numitor () of Alba Longa, was the maternal grandfather of Rome's founder and first king, Romulus, and his twin brother Remus. He was the son of Procas, descendant of Aeneas the Trojan, and father of the twins' mother, ...
, grandfather of the twins, was overthrown by his brother
Amulius
In Roman mythology, Amulius () was king of Alba Longa who ordered the death of his infant, twin grandnephews Romulus, the eventual founder and king of Rome, and Remus. He was deposed and killed by them after they survived and grew to adulthood ...
in
Alba Longa, the usurper ordered them to be cast into the
Tiber River
The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by the Ri ...
. They were rescued by a she-wolf that cared for them until a herdsman,
Faustulus
In Roman mythology, Faustulus was the shepherd who found the infant Romulus (the future founder of the city of Rome) and his twin brother Remus along the banks of the Tiber River as they were being suckled by the she-wolf, Lupa. According to lege ...
, found and raised them.
The age and origin of the Capitoline Wolf are controversial. The statue was long thought to be an
Etruscan __NOTOC__
Etruscan may refer to:
Ancient civilization
*The Etruscan language, an extinct language in ancient Italy
*Something derived from or related to the Etruscan civilization
**Etruscan architecture
**Etruscan art
**Etruscan cities
** Etrusca ...
work of the fifth century BC, with the twins added in the late 15th century AD, probably by sculptor
Antonio del Pollaiuolo
Antonio del Pollaiuolo ( , , ; 17 January 1429/14334 February 1498), also known as Antonio di Jacopo Pollaiuolo or Antonio Pollaiuolo (also spelled Pollaiolo), was an Italian painter, sculptor, engraver, and goldsmith during the Italian Rena ...
. However, though
radiocarbon
Carbon-14, C-14, or radiocarbon, is a radioactive isotope of carbon with an atomic nucleus containing 6 protons and 8 neutrons. Its presence in organic materials is the basis of the radiocarbon dating method pioneered by Willard Libby and c ...
and
thermoluminescence
Thermoluminescence is a form of luminescence that is exhibited by certain crystalline materials, such as some minerals, when previously absorbed energy from electromagnetic radiation or other ionizing radiation is re-emitted as light upon he ...
dating suggested that the wolf portion of the statue may have been cast between 1021 and 1153, these results are inconsistent, and there is yet no consensus for a revised dating; in a conference about this theme, most academics supported an ancient Etruscan origin, and analysis of the metal suggests that its lead comes from a mining place that is not known to have operated during medieval times.
The image of the she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus is 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 Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; it, Campidoglio ; la, Mons Capitolinus ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome.
The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn. ...
(the ancient
Capitoline Hill
The Capitolium or Capitoline Hill ( ; it, Campidoglio ; la, Mons Capitolinus ), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the Seven Hills of Rome.
The hill was earlier known as ''Mons Saturnius'', dedicated to the god Saturn. ...
), Rome,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, and
many replicas are in various places around the world.
Description
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.
Attribution and dating
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
Titus Livius (; 59 BC – AD 17), known in English as Livy ( ), was a Roman historian. He wrote a monumental history of Rome and the Roman people, titled , covering the period from the earliest legends of Rome before the traditional founding in ...
reports in his ''
Roman history'' that a statue was erected at the foot of the Palatine Hill in 295 BC.
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...
mentions the presence in the
Roman Forum
The Roman Forum, also known by its Latin name Forum Romanum ( it, Foro Romano), is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient ...
of a statue of a she-wolf that was "a miracle proclaimed in bronze nearby, as though she had crossed the
Comitium
The Comitium ( it, Comizio) was the original open-air public meeting space of Ancient Rome, and had major religious and prophetic significance. The name comes from the Latin word for "assembly". The Comitium location at the northwest corner of th ...
while
Attus Navius
In Roman mythology, Ancient Roman mythology, Attus Navius was a famous augur during the reign of Tarquinius Priscus.
When Tarquinius desired to increase the number of the equestrian (Roman), equestrian centuries, and to name them in his own honour ...
was taking the omens".
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...
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
Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...
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
Johann Joachim Winckelmann (; ; 9 December 17178 June 1768) was a German art historian and archaeologist. He was a pioneering Hellenist who first articulated the differences between Greek, Greco-Roman and Roman art. "The prophet and foundin ...
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
Veii
Veii (also Veius; it, Veio) was an important ancient Etruscan city situated on the southern limits of Etruria and north-northwest of Rome, Italy. It now lies in Isola Farnese, in the comune of Rome. Many other sites associated with and in the ...
an artist
Vulca Vulca was an Etruscan artist from the town of Veii. The only Etruscan artist mentioned by ancient writers, he worked for the last of the Roman kings, Tarquinius Superbus. He is responsible for creating a terracotta statue of Jupiter that was inside ...
, who decorated the
Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus
The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, also known as the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus ( la, Aedes Iovis Optimi Maximi Capitolini; it, Tempio di Giove Ottimo Massimo; ) was the most important temple in Ancient Rome, located on the Capitoline ...
, and then reattributed to an unknown Etruscan artist of around 480–470 BC. Winckelmann correctly identified a
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
origin for the twins; they were probably added in 1471 AD or later.
[Adriano La Regina,]
Roma, l'inganno della Lupa è "nata" nel Medioevo
''La Repubblica''. 17 November 2006
During the 19th century, a number of researchers questioned Winckelmann's dating of the bronze.
August Emil Braun
August or Auguste Emil Braun (April 19, 1809, in Gotha, Germany – September 12, 1856, in Rome) was a German archaeologist.
Biography
Braun initially studied archaeology and philosophy in Göttingen, then continued his education at the Univers ...
, 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
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
, stated in 1878 that the style of the statue was attributable to the
Carolingian art
Carolingian art comes from the Frankish Empire in the period of roughly 120 years from about 780 to 900—during the reign of Charlemagne and his immediate heirs—popularly known as the Carolingian Renaissance. The art was produced by and for th ...
period rather than the Etruscan, and in 1885,
Wilhelm von Bode
Wilhelm von Bode (10 December 1845 – 1 March 1929) was a German art historian and museum curator. Born Arnold Wilhelm Bode in Calvörde, he was ennobled in 1913. He was the creator and first curator of the Kaiser Friedrich Museum, now c ...
also stated that he was of the view that the statue was most likely a mediaeval work. These views were largely disregarded, though, and had been forgotten by the 20th century.
In 2006, Italian art historian Anna Maria Carruba and archaeologist Adriano La Regina contested the traditional dating of the wolf on the basis of an analysis of the
casting
Casting is a manufacturing process in which a liquid material is usually poured into a mold, which contains a hollow cavity of the desired shape, and then allowed to solidify. The solidified part is also known as a ''casting'', which is ejected ...
technique. Carruba had been given the task of restoring the sculpture in 1997, enabling her to examine how it had been made. She observed that the statue had been cast in a single piece, using a variation of the
lost-wax casting
Lost-wax casting (also called "investment casting", "precision casting", or ''cire perdue'' which has been adopted into English from the French, ) is the process by which a duplicate metal sculpture (often silver, gold, brass, or bronze) i ...
technique. This technique was not used in
Classical antiquity
Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ...
; ancient Greek and Roman bronzes were typically constructed from multiple pieces, a method that facilitated high-quality castings, with less risk than would be involved in casting the entire sculpture at once. Single-piece casting was, however, widely used in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
to mould bronze items that needed a high level of rigidity, such as
bell
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inte ...
s and
cannon
A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...
s. Carruba argues, like Braun, that the damage to the wolf's paw had resulted from an error in the moulding process. In addition, La Regina, former superintendent of Rome's archaeological heritage, argues that the sculpture's artistic style is more akin to Carolingian and
Romanesque art than that of the ancient world.
Radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dating were carried out at the
University of Salento
The University of Salento ( it, Università del Salento, called until 2007 ''Università degli Studi di Lecce'') is a university located in Lecce, Italy. It was founded in 1955 by Giuseppe Codacci Pisanelli.
The university of Salento commenced act ...
in February 2007 to resolve the question. The results revealed with an accuracy of 95.4% that the sculpture was crafted between the 11th and 12th centuries AD.
A 2019 radiocarbon study, based on organic residues in the casting cores recovered from the inner part of the statue, "firmly anchor
the statue to the XI-XII centuries CE, in the Middle Ages."
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 mediaeval times, and that on the balance of probabilities, the wolf should be considered to be Etruscan.
History of the sculpture
![She-wolf of Rome](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8d/She-wolf_of_Rome.JPG)
When the sculpture was first erected it is unclear, but a number of mediaeval references mention a "wolf" standing in the Pope's
Lateran Palace
The Lateran Palace ( la, Palatium Lateranense), formally the Apostolic Palace of the Lateran ( la, Palatium Apostolicum Lateranense), is an ancient palace of the Roman Empire and later the main papal residence in southeast Rome.
Located on St. ...
. In the 10th-century ''
Chronicon In historiography, a ''chronicon'' is a type of chronicle or annals. Examples are:
* ''Chronicon'' (Eusebius)
* ''Chronicon'' (Jerome)
*'' Chronicon Abbatiae de Evesham''
*''Chronicon Burgense''
*'' Chronicon Ambrosianum''
*'' Chronicon Compostellan ...
'' of
Benedict of Soracte
Benedict of Soracte (Benedict of St. Andrew) was a tenth-century Italian chronicler, a monk at the monastery on Mount Soracte. The ''Catholic Encyclopedia
The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, D ...
, the monk chronicler writes of the institution of a supreme court of justice "in the Lateran Palace, in the place called the Wolf, viz, the mother of the Romans." Trials and executions "at the Wolf" are recorded from time to time until 1438.
The 12th-century English cleric
Magister Gregorius
''De mirabilibus urbis Romae'', preserved in a single manuscript in Cambridge, England, is a medieval guide in Latin to the splendours of Rome, which was written in the mid-twelfth century by a certain Magister Gregorius ("Master Gregory") of O ...
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
A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect.
Fountains were ori ...
. 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
Pope Sixtus IV ( it, Sisto IV: 21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484), born Francesco della Rovere, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 to his death in August 1484. His accomplishments as pope include ...
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 Capitoline Museums (Italian: ''Musei Capitolini'') are a group of art and archaeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The historic seats of the museums are Palazzo dei Conservatori and Pal ...
.
Modern use and symbolism
![Sienese She-Wolf at Siena Duomo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Sienese_She-Wolf_at_Siena_Duomo.jpg)
The image was favoured by
Benito Mussolini, who cast himself as the founder of a "New Rome" and donated
copies of the statue to various places around the world.
To encourage
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
goodwill, he sent several copies of the Capitoline Wolf to U.S. cities. In 1929 he sent
one replica for a
Sons of Italy
The Order Sons of Italy in America ( it, Ordine Figli d’Italia in America, OSIA) is the largest and the oldest Italian American fraternal organization in the United States. A similar organization exists in Canada.
It has more than 600,000 me ...
national convention in
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
. It was switched for another one in 1931, which still stands in
Eden Park, Cincinnati
Eden Park is an urban park located in the Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio. The hilltop park occupies , and offers numerous overlooks of the Ohio River valley.
History
The park's acreage was purchased by the city in 1869 from Jos ...
. Another replica was given to the city of
Rome, Georgia
Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia metropolitan area, Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statisti ...
, the same year.
[ A third copy went to ]Rome, New York
Rome is a city in Oneida County, New York, United States, located in the Central New York, central part of the state. The population was 32,127 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Rome is one of two principal cities in the Utica–Ro ...
, in 1956 by Alfonso Felici, a veteran of World War II.[ Another ended up at North-Eastern Normal University, China, where ancient Greek and Roman history is studied.
The Capitoline Wolf was used on both the ]emblem
An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint.
Emblems vs. symbols
Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often use ...
and the poster for the 1960 Summer Olympics
The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...
in Rome. The Roman football club A.S. Roma
' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...
uses it in its emblem as well.
It was used as the logo for Artie Ripp's record label Family Productions, which in 1971 released Billy Joel's first album as a solo artist, '' Cold Spring Harbor''. Due to contractual obligations, it continued to appear on numerous Joel albums even after he was subsequently signed to Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...
.
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
The term victory (from Latin ''victoria'') originally applied to warfare, and denotes success achieved in personal combat, after military operations in general or, by extension, in any competition. Success in a military campaign constitutes ...
would have stood.[Allen M. Ward, "History, Ancient and Modern, in ''The Fall of the Roman Empire''", in Martin M. Winkler (ed.), ''The Fall of the Roman Empire'' (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), pp. 51–88 7–88]
The 1976 TV series ''I, Claudius
''I, Claudius'' is a historical novel by English writer Robert Graves, published in 1934. Written in the form of an autobiography of the Roman Emperor Claudius, it tells the history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty and the early years of the Ro ...
'' also features the statue in its depiction of the interior of the Senate House.
In the 2009 film '' Agora'', set in 5th-century Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, 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
Hypatia, Koine pronunciation (born 350–370; died 415 AD) was a neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, then part of the Eastern Roman Empire. She was a prominent thinker in Alexandria where ...
's capture, directly behind her character.
In Rick Riordan's ''The Son of Neptune
''The Son of Neptune'' is a 2011 fantasy-adventure novel written by American author Rick Riordan, based on Greek and Roman mythology. It is the second book in '' The Heroes of Olympus'' series, preceded by ''The Lost Hero'' and followed by ...
'', Lupa is the wolf that trains all demigods who wish to enter Camp Jupiter. She trains Percy Jackson
Perseus "Percy" Jackson is a fictional character, the title character and narrator of Rick Riordan's ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' series. He is also one of seven main protagonists of the sequel series '' The Heroes of Olympus'', appear ...
and is mentioned that she trained Jason Grace
A description of most characters featured in various mythology series by Rick Riordan.
Overview
List indicator(s)
* A dark grey cell indicates that the character was not in the property or that the character's presence in the property has yet to ...
also. It is also possible that she trained Frank Zhang
A description of most characters featured in various mythology series by Rick Riordan.
Overview
List indicator(s)
* A dark grey cell indicates that the character was not in the property or that the character's presence in the property has yet to ...
, Hazel Levesque
A description of most characters featured in various mythology series by Rick Riordan.
Overview
List indicator(s)
* A dark grey cell indicates that the character was not in the property or that the character's presence in the property has yet to ...
, 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
''The Addams Family'' is a fictional family created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They originally appeared in a series of 150 unrelated single-panel cartoons, about half of which were originally published in ''The New Yorker'' over ...
'', 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) Look at Me may refer to:
Film
* Look at Me (2004 film), ''Look at Me'' (2004 film), a French drama
* ''Look at Me'', a 2008 film directed by Dan Turner (director), Dan Turner
* Look at Me (2022 film), ''Look at Me'' (2022 film), a documentary film ...
'', a 2011 installation
Installation may refer to:
* Installation (computer programs)
* Installation, work of installation art
* Installation, military base
* Installation, into an office, especially a religious (Installation (Christianity) Installation is a Christian li ...
by Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
artist Paweł Wocial.
See also
* Capitoline Wolf statues in cities
Notes
References
* (X-ray diffractometry, thermal analyses, chemistry and thin sections identify the casting site in the lower Tiber valley.)
Further reading
* (This paper initiated modern research into the sculpture's history.)
External links
{{commons category, Capitoline Wolf
1471 archaeological discoveries
Animal sculptures in Italy
Bronze sculptures in Italy
Wolf
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...
Pope Sixtus IV
Sculptures of classical mythology
She-wolf (Roman mythology)
Wolves in art
Wolves in folklore, religion and mythology
Works of uncertain authorship
Cultural depictions of Romulus and Remus