The Capitoline Wolf

The Capitoline Wolf is a bronze sculpture, kept in the Capitoline Museums, in approximately natural size. It is traditionally considered of Etruscan manufacture, it is believed that it was merged in the lower Tiber valley and that it has been in Rome since ancient times. According to the myth, the vestal Rhea Silvia was fertilized by the god Mars and she gave birth to twins, Romulus and Remus. The grandfather of the twins, Numitor, was expelled from the throne of Alba Longa by his brother Amulius. To avoid that the grandchildren, when they became adults, could claim the usurped throne, Amulius ordered that they be thrown into the Tiber in a basket. This basket ran aground on the river on the slopes of a hill, where the twins were found by a she-wolf who took care of them until they were found by the shepherd Faustulus. The cave of the wolf was the legendary lupercal at the Palatine hill. The statue is the very icon of the founding of the city. Ancient sources speak of two bronze statues of the she-wolf, one in the Lupercale, the other in the Capitol. The first statue, that of the Palatine, is mentioned in 295 BC, when the two aediles, Quinto Fabio Pittore and Quinto Ogulnio Gallo, added a pair of twins to it.

Ginger shop online sells copies of the statue of the Capitoline Wolf in different sizes. These reproductions are made in composite marble and patinated with handcrafted aged bronze-like paint.

Ginger shop online offers objects produced by Tuscan artisans, with marble dust and resin “Marmo Composito”, natural, painted like bronze or with antique patina. Some objects are embellished with a base in real Carrara marble or Alabaster. All the reproductions were made by Tuscan Masters, marble and alabaster sculptors. The small differences from the originals and between them do not diminish their value but are a guarantee of a handmade craftsmanship as it was in the past.