The theme for PhotoHunt this week is “metal”. As I was going through my photos, the only pictures I could find which fit the theme were from Italy.

This first photo is from the Catitoline Museum and shows the statue of Boy With Thorn. The statue depicts a boy pulling a thorn from his foot and is one of a few large-scale bronze works to survive from antiquity. It was very influential on artists in the Italian Renaissance, and later was one of the works Napoleon proudly confiscated. After his defeat, it was returned to the Capitoline collection.

This second photo was also taken in the Capitoline Museum, and is the Capitoline Wolf. This bronze statue, housed here since 1473, is one of the icons of the founding of Rome. When the twins’ father Numitor was overthrown by his brother Amulius, according to the founding myth, he ordered them to be cast into the Tiber. They were rescued by a she-wolf who cared for them until a herdsman, Faustulus, found and raised them. The statue was long thought to be an Etruscan work of the 5th century BCE, with the twins added in the late 15th century. However, radiocarbon and thermoluminescence dating has found that it was probably manufactured in the 13th century CE.

This last photo was again taken in the same museum, and is the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius.