Lupae Romulum et Remum Urbis Conditores Lactantis Antiquum AC Aeneum in Capitolio Signum

The She-Wolf with Romulus and Remus, burin, 1552, engraved by Nicolas Beatrizet (Lunéville, c. 1515 - Rome, c. 1565) for the publisher Antonio Lafréry (Orgelet, 1512 - Rome, 1577).

Inscribed on pedestal: "LVPAE ROMVLVM ET REMVM VRBIS CONDITORES LACTANTIS ANTIQVVM AC AENEVM IN CAPITOLIO SIGNVM" [Ancient statue of the she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus, founders of the City, preserved in the Capitol].

Signed at the bottom center: "ANT LAFRERII FORMIS ROMAE MDLII".

The first news of this bronze dates back to the tenth century. It was reported at the Lateran and in 1471 Sixtus IV (1471-1484) had it transferred to the Palazzo dei Conservatori. In 1490 Giovanni da Tolentino gives news of the addition of the twins Romulus and Remus. The bronze was placed above the Palazzo dei Conservatori and in 1544 was transferred inside. The entire group was read as an ancient work, until J.J. Winckelmann observed that the figures of Romulus and Remus were later. The print always exerted a strong emotional connotation as a symbol par excellence of Romanity, and that symbol was much disputed during the 18th and 19th centuries between revolutionaries and conservatives. On September 22, 1798, during the Roman Republic, the she-wolf was transported to the Teatro Pompeo in Palazzo Spada as a backdrop to the performance of Voltaire's La Mort de César. In 1819, at the height of the Restoration, the She-wolf was placed at the center of the table for a banquet given at the Campidoglio in honor of the Emperor of Austria and his Prime Minister Prince Metternich. The She-wolf now symbolized papal sovereignty. The work is now considered an example of Etruscan bronze art of the fifth century BC. 

Work belonging to the Speculum Romanae Magnificentia of Lafreri.

The "Speculum" originated in the publishing activities of Antonio Salamanca and Antonio Lafreri. During their Roman publishing careers, the two foreign publishers - who worked together between 1553 and 1563 - started the production of prints of architecture, statuary and city views related to ancient and modern Rome. The prints could be purchased individually by tourists and collectors, but they were also purchased in larger groups that were often bound together in an album. In 1573, Lafreri commissioned a frontispiece for this purpose, where the title "Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae" appears for the first time. Upon Lafreri's death, two-thirds of the existing copper plates went to the Duchetti family (Claudio and Stefano), while another third was distributed among several publishers.

Magnificent proof, in the first state of four before the address of Giovanni Orlandi, printed on contemporary laid paper with watermark "shield with scale and star", large margins, in perfect condition.

Literature

B. Rubach, Ant. Lafreri Formis Romae (2016), n. 309, I/IV; A. Alberti, L’indice di Antonio Lafrery (2010), n. 66, I/IV; Marigliani, Lo splendore di Roma nell’Arte incisoria del Cinquecento (2016), V.67, I/IV; Bober/Rubinstein 1986, n 184; Nagler (Mon), IV, p. 733, n. 2322.20; Bianchi 2004-IV, p. 7, n. D 23; C. HÜLSEN, 1921, p. 152, 47, A; P. ARRIGONI - A. BERTARELLI, 1939, p. 321; F. HASKELL - N. PENNY, 1984, pp. 354-57; S. CORSI - P. RAGIONIERI, 2004, p. 21; C. FRUGONI, 2005, pp. 58-59; C. MARIGLIANI, 2005, p. 10; C. WITCOMBE, 2008, pp. 134, 136.