MAMMARY MEANINGS IN THE SHE-WOLF'S VISUAL REPRESENTATION

With a spare compositional structure of three naked figures – one adult animal and two juvenile humans – the statue of the Lupa Capitolina recounts a foundation legend far more intricate than her own shape. Hers is the story that Romans have been telling for centuries about their own past, so that it is enough to see a wolf give suck to a set of twins to know exactly who she is, what she has done, and what will happen a few years hence. In a compact frame, the bronze image at the Capitoline Museum expresses ancient legends of divine intervention in human history. This is the story that the Lupa has long been believed to be telling; the statue, after all, may have had nothing to do with the twins when the bronze was first cast. Then there are the stories of the bronze She-Wolf herself, tales of varying reception and changing usage, including accounts of both worldly and supernatural power struggles – ancient as well as medieval, early modern, and contemporary. Of course, the complexity of the bronze Lupa can best be understood in the context of other visual as well as verbal she-wolves and by being mindful of the interpretations attached to all these beasts.

The wolf's much-sung teats and tongue dramatize attitudes of and toward mothers, of and toward poets.