The sculpture is made from two blocks of Italian gray bardiglio marble, an inlay of French red marble, with a base of yellow pine and altogether weighing almost half a ton.
Work on the pair of Romulus and Remus sculptures was begun while in Italy, and grew out of the ubiquitous presence of the ancient mythologies even in the modern culture throughout the country.
Though an early version of Romulus was exhibited in Italy without the red marble inlay or the wood, both of the pieces were worked-on over a period of several years before being completed in their final forms in my studio in Georgia.
When Romulus and his brother Remus were planning out the boundaries of what was to become Rome - "the city of the seven hills" - Romulus laid out and marked in the dirt where the walls of the new city were to be placed.
Remus then playfully jumped over the 'wall' and teased his brother about how easy it was to breach the defenses of the city. But Romulus, who was not known for his sense of humor, was so enraged by the comment that he killed his brother. He ruthlessly then proceeded to found the city that was named after him.
Romulus was rewarded by becoming one of the gods in the pantheon of Roman deities, while on the other hand Remus is remembered best as the other babe suckling at the breast of the She-Wolf.
