The Capitoline Wolf Suckling Romulus and Remus

15th century

A freestanding, bronze she-wolf stands as two male infants attempt to nurse at her teats in this sculpture. In this photograph, the wolf stands sideways facing our left with her head turned to look at us, eight teats hanging heavily along her underside. Her eyes and brows are represented with ridges but her features are worn. Her jaws are slightly open, and her lean body is partly covered by tight clusters curls around her head, neck, and along her back. Beneath her, the boys are roughly modeled or perhaps also worn. They both appear to sit on rocks as they tilt their heads back and spread their arms wide. The boys and wolf are on a slab of bronze, which in turn rests on a gray, rectangular base. The sculpture is photographed in front of a white wall.

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    bronze//Black lacquer over medium brown bronze

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 8.57 × 10.64 × 4.76 cm (3 3/8 × 4 3/16 × 1 7/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1957.14.72

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Gustave Dreyfus [1837-1914], Paris; his estate; purchased 1930 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); purchased 1945 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York; gift 1957 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1989

  • Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes, Milwaukee Museum of Art, Wisconsin, 1989, brochure, no. 2.

1998

  • A Collector's Cabinet, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1998, no. 101.

Bibliography

1931

  • Ricci, Seymour de. The Gustave Dreyfus Collection: Renaissance Bronzes. Oxford, 1931: 82, no. 66, pl. 41.

1951

  • Renaissance Bronzes: Statuettes, Reliefs and Plaquettes, Medals and Coins from the Kress Collection. Introduction by Perry B. Cott. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 137, as The She-Wolf suckling Romulus and Remus.

1965

  • Pope-Hennessy, John W. Renaissance Bronzes from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Reliefs, Plaquettes, Statuettes, Utensils and Mortars. London, 1965: no. 532.

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 86, repro.

2004

  • Banzato, Davide and Vok, Ignazio, eds. Bronzi del Rinascimento. Collezione Vok. Exh. cat. Musei civici agli Eremitani, Padua, 2004: 11.

2005

  • Scholten, Frits, and Monique Verber, with contributions by Robert van Langh and Dirk Visser. From Vulcan’s Forge: Bronzes from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam 1450-1800. Exh. cat. Daniel Katz Ltd., London and Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna. London, 2005: 61, n.1.

2008

  • Diemer, Dorothea, et al., eds., Die Münchner Kunstkammer. Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse, Abhandlungen, NF, Heft 129. 3 vols. Munich, 2008: 2:723.

Wikidata ID

Q63809393

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