Romulus and Remus Given Shelter by Faustulus
Pietro da Cortona, c.1643
BaroqueMythological PaintingItalian Artists
Overview
About This Work
Painted circa 1643, Romulus and Remus Given Shelter by Faustulus is an oil on canvas by Pietro da Cortona (1596–1669), measuring 251 x 266 cm, now housed in the Louvre Museum, Paris. The work depicts the climactic moment of the legendary foundling narrative: the shepherd Faustulus, having discovered the abandoned twin infants Romulus and Remus—who had survived drowning in the river Tiber and been suckled by a she-wolf and protected by a woodpecker—now presents the first child to his wife Acca Larentia at their rustic cottage. The moment crystallizes the transition from nature's sustenance to civilization's compassion: the infants, destined to found Rome, are welcomed into human society not through institutional authority or kinship but through the spontaneous maternal mercy of a shepherd's wife. Commissioned by Louis Phélypeaux, the French nobleman and state official known as the Seigneur de La Vrillière, the painting was conceived as one of several mythological works decorating the gilded gallery of his new hôtel (townhouse) in Paris—a humanistic display of erudition and cultural prestige. Cortona's interpretation exemplifies his mature style: a composition of baroque dynamism and centrifugal energy, populated with idealized figures rendered in warm earth tones beneath a soft, luminous golden light that suggests divine blessing. Yet unlike his contemporaries' more violent or spectacularly supernatural renderings of foundling narratives, Cortona selects the quiet domestic interior, the moment of human acceptance. This choice reflects both an artistic philosophy—his celebrated belief that history painting could accommodate complex, multi-figural narratives—and a Counter-Reformation theology: that compassion toward foundlings and vulnerable infants represents a redemptive virtue, sanctioned by divine light itself.
Visual Analysis
Composition
The painting's compositional spine is structured along interlocking diagonals that create what Cortona himself termed "centrifugal & dramatic motion" within an encompassing compositional unity. Faustulus's body, leaning forward with the swaddled infant held aloft, forms the apex of a pyramid; the movement flows backward and downward toward Acca Larentia, whose receptive stance (arm extended, body opening toward the child) receives and anchors the dynamic gesture. This is not a static presentation but rather a moment of kinetic energy—Faustulus literally delivers the child through space toward the mother. The zigzagging drapery of both figures reinforces this directional thrust.
Cortona orchestrates a sophisticated spatial recession. The foreground cottage interior—suggested by warm ochre walls, the figured architectural frame—is bathed in golden light that seems to radiate from the assembled family group itself. The background recedes through atmospheric perspective into a golden-green pastoral landscape where flocks graze peacefully, the river winds in the distance, and crucially the she-wolf can still be glimpsed nursing the second infant. This spatial doubling—the redemptive domestic moment in foreground, the vulnerable infants in nature still requiring maternal care in background—creates a narrative structure in which multiple temporal and spatial registers coexist.
Two additional children appear in the composition—whether Faustulus and Larentia's own offspring or symbolic presences representing innocence and domestic virtue remains interpretively ambiguous. Their presence transforms the scene from a historical narrative of foundlings into a theological assertion: this is not merely the rescue of future Roman founders but rather a universal moment of human compassion.
Colour & Light
Cortona's colour scheme—dominated by warm ochres, burnt siennas, reddish-golds, and soft browns—departs decisively from both Caravaggesque tenebrism (which would render the scene dramatically) and Mannerism (which would employ cooler, more artificial tones). The warmth suggests intimacy, domestic comfort, and—theologically—divine favour. This is not the harsh light of judgment but the gentle glow of acceptance. The drapery of Acca Larentia glows in warm reddish-gold, a colour associated in Counter-Reformation iconography with maternal virtue and domestic charity. Faustulus wears earthy browns and ochres, connecting him visually to the pastoral landscape and humble origins.
The soft, diffuse light that bathes the foreground figures—particularly illuminating the infant's swaddled form—functions as a visual manifestation of divine sanction. Unlike Caravaggio's dramatic spotlighting (which isolates and heightens psychological tension), Cortona's golden light envelops and includes. It is warm, welcoming, and pervasive. Art historian Rudolf Wittkower observed that Cortona employed light not for drama but for "luminous harmony," creating what he termed the "sunny figures and cherubim" that would influence Rococo aesthetics.
The background landscape is rendered with pronounced atmospheric perspective—the distant hills, grazing flocks, and flowing river are hazier, cooler in tone (shifting from warm foreground to blue-greens in distance), and less detailed. This technique creates the impression of atmospheric depth and suggests both temporal and spiritual distance.
Materials & Technique
Cortona worked in oil, which permitted the creation of translucent glazes—thin layers of paint that modify underlying forms without obliterating them. This technique allowed him to achieve the luminous quality and subtle colour transitions that characterize the work. The drapery is built through successive glazes: an initial ochre or brown underlayer established the form; subsequent glazes of red and gold created highlights; transparent dark glazes defined shadow recesses. This layering creates a surface that appears simultaneously solid and ethereal.
Unlike the highly finished, almost sculptural surface typical of some Renaissance and Mannerist paintings, Cortona's technique allows individual brushstrokes to remain visible. This is particularly evident in the handling of drapery and foliage. Rather than blending colours imperceptibly, Cortona juxtaposes strokes of different hues (blue-green beside warm ochre, for instance), allowing the viewer's eye to optically mix the colours at distance while maintaining the vigour and immediacy of the application. This technique—influenced by Venetian painters like Veronese, whom Cortona admired—creates a liveliness and spontaneity.
Cortona almost certainly executed preliminary compositional drawings in pen or chalk, followed by underpainting in brown or ochre to establish forms and values. The scale of the canvas (251 x 266 cm) demanded substantial advance planning; such monumental easel paintings required confident execution and could not rely on improvisation.
Historical Context
Context
Pietro da Cortona (born Pietro Berrettini, 1596–1669) arrived in Rome in his late teens and rapidly established himself as one of the city's leading painters. Unlike more specialized artists, Cortona excelled simultaneously as painter, fresco decorator, and architect—a versatility that proved invaluable in Rome's competitive culture. By 1643, Cortona had completed his most famous work, the ceiling fresco Allegory of Divine Providence and Barberini Power in the Palazzo Barberini (1633–1639), a watershed moment in Baroque painting.
Cortona was embroiled in a celebrated debate at the Accademia di San Luca with his contemporary Andrea Sacchi over the proper composition of history painting. Sacchi argued that history painting should employ economy of figures and prioritize clarity and noble simplicity. Cortona, by contrast, defended the right of history painting to employ complexity and abundance of figures, arguing that "a history painting could be compared with an epic and was entitled to use many figures." The Romulus and Remus painting embodies Cortona's position: multiple figures arranged in complex spatial relationship, each contributing to the emotional and narrative coherence of the whole.
In 1643, Cortona was in Florence, engaged in the decoration of the Pitti Palace for the Medici Grand Duke. The commission from the French patron La Vrillière fits precisely into this period of international expansion. Louis Phélypeaux commissioned a series of nine paintings on Roman foundation myths for the gilded gallery of his newly constructed hôtel in Paris. Cortona contributed three works including this painting, reflecting the common aristocratic strategy of displaying classical erudition through the collection of works depicting noble themes.
Key Themes
Connection to Baroque
Exam Focus Points
Critical Perspectives
The painting embodies Cortona's theoretical position in the debate with Sacchi. Where Sacchi would have rendered the scene with minimal figures, Cortona includes multiple secondary figures, complex spatial relationships, and subsidiary narratives. Unlike Rubens (whose Romulus and Remus discovery scene emphasizes the she-wolf's miraculous sustenance with mythological presences) and unlike Maratta (whose Finding employs multiplex narrative), Cortona selects the domestic closure: the moment when the narrative transitions from nature's sustenance to civilization's integration. This choice suggests that the true "founding" of Rome lies not in the wolves or woodpeckers but in the acceptance of the vulnerable by the compassionate. Where Bernini would theatricalize the scene through spatial illusion and dramatic light effects, Cortona achieves drama through composition and colour. Where Caravaggio would employ darkness to isolate figures psychologically, Cortona employs golden light to include and harmonize.