# Romulus and Remus Given Shelter by Faustulus [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [CORTONA, Pietro da]() - Date: 1601-1650 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 251 x 266 cm ## Commentary Romulus and Remus Given Shelter by Faustulus c. 1643 Oil on canvas, 251 x 266 cm Musée du Louvre, Paris The twin brothers Romulus and Remus are the legendary founders of Rome. Their mother, a Vestal Virgin, explained her pregnancy by claiming she had been violated by Mars, the god of war. She was thrown into prison and the children were ordered to be drowned in the Tiber. They survived and were reared by a she-wolf, and by a woodpecker that watched over them and brought them food. They were discovered by Faustulus, the herdsman. ## Related artworks - [Age of Bronze]() - [Age of Iron]() - [Apotheose of Aeneas \(detail\)]() - [Augustus and the Sibyl]() - [Ceiling fresco in the Sala di Saturno]() - [Ceiling of the Galleria Pamphilj]() - [Ceiling painting \(detail\)]() - [Ceiling painting \(detail\)]() - [Ceiling painting \(detail\)]() - [Ceiling painting]() - [Ceiling painting]() - [Ceiling painting]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()