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Archive photograph of the previous version: bronze she-wolf standing, suckling two infants seated beneath her.

Previous version

A bronze ewe with a curly fleece suckles two infants seated beneath her belly, on a three-stepped stone base.

Current version2026

The Capitoline Wolf, Capitoline Museums, Rome

Photo: Wilfredor, via Wikimedia CommonsLicence CC0Image source

Acc. no. GLI.2026.004 104

Romulus and Remus

Founders of Rome, sons of Mars, god of war.

At the GLiTCH Museum, Department of Contemporary Antiquities.

Bronze. Species: ovine.

Next version Bronze. Wool not included.

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Catalogue entry

Record GLI.2026.004
Work 4 of 13

Materials depicted
Bronze. Species: ovine.
Provenance
The Lupercal cave, at the foot of the Palatine. The wolf has not been traced.
Condition report
Good. The twins are feeding well.
Related work
The Capitoline Wolf, bronze, Capitoline Museums, Rome; twins added in the fifteenth century.

Commentary

Condemned by their great-uncle to be thrown into the Tiber, the twins Romulus and Remus are left on the bank of the flooded river, found by a she-wolf, then raised by a shepherd. Romulus founds Rome, by tradition, in 753 BC.

The Capitoline Wolf, a bronze given to the people of Rome by Pope Sixtus IV in 1471, was long taken for an Etruscan work of the fifth century BC. Radiocarbon results announced in 2008 placed it in the eleventh or twelfth century AD; the debate continues. The twins were added in the fifteenth century.

Only the animal had never been questioned.

Previous version

The Capitoline Wolf, bronze, Capitoline Museums, Rome. The twins were added in the 15th century.

Photo: Wilfredor, via Wikimedia CommonsLicence CC0Image source

See both versions
References3 references

Digital composition by Aël, updated with the help of artificial intelligence. Glitch: original.