LOT 1503

Large Bronze Roman Romulus and Remus Plaque

LATE 19TH-EARLY 20TH CENTURY A.D.

28 1/4 in. (14.9 kg, 72 cm wide).

Modelled in the half-round and hollow to the reverse; the lupa she-wolf standing with head turned, infant twins suckling beneath on a chamfered base.

Ex Weser auction, Germany.
Ex French gallery, Paris.

The plaque is modelled on the famous Lupa Capitolina "the Capitoline Wolf", believed to be an Etruscan-inspired bronze of the 5th century B.C. with modifications in the 15th century AD by Antonio del Pollaiuolo. The twin boys are Romulus and Remus, abandoned by their mother and kept alive by the wolf. They went on to be founders of Rome; Romulus killed Remus in a dispute over the most appropriate hill (Palatine or Aventine) on which to base the city's layout.