Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella (after Antoine Bouzonnet-Stella)
French printmaker, 1641-1676 (French painter, 1637-1682)
Romulus and Remus found by Shepherds
1676
Etching on laid paper
14 1/8 x 18 3/8 inches (35.878 x 46.673 centimeters)
Purchase: SOTA Print Fund, 1994.
1994.013.000

Romulus and Remus were the legendary founders of Rome, supposed to have been abandoned at birth by their mother, a Vestal Virgin who would have been executed if it became known that she had not kept her vow to remain a virgin. The twins were nurtured by a she-wolf until found by a shepherd and raised as his sons. Antoinette Bouzonnet-Stella belonged to a family of artists. Her brother Antoine made the painting on which her etching was based, and her sister Claudine published the print.