John T. Unger’s Cave Canum Redux: Lupus Ludi

I flipped when I saw John T. Unger’s interpretation of Pompeii’s famous “Beware of Dog” sign, Cave Canum.  It is so vivid, and beautifully laid out.   Look at the special attention he gives to the dog’s curved hind leg muscles, and compare it to the original:

Cave Canem, Pompeii, c. 50 A.D.

I also love his desire to match the text with the image.  Unger felt like the dog looked too happy to be a threat.   So, after much research and Latin word play, he came up with Lupus Ludi, which to him translated into “playful wolf.”  A Latin scholar left a comment on his blog explaining that the exact translation would be “Wolf. Games.”   She suggested, “Happy Puppy’ would be ‘Laetus catellus’ (lit. ‘joyful puppy’).  [or] Playful wolf would be ‘Lupus ludibundus.”

But I think Unger is correct.  Artistically speaking “Lupus Ludi” is just right.  It also reminds me of the Italian expression for good luck, “in bocca al lupo,” or  “in the mouth of the wolf.”  I have no idea where the saying comes from, but a good luck dog sign is a nice idea too.  After all, isn’t every home with a dog a lucky home?

Here are some more Cave Canems (pl?) to enjoy:

Cave Canem by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1881

Close up of the Cave Canem sign from Gérôme’s painting above

Cave Canem also makes a cameo in my “Dogs in Art” film:

Visit John T. Unger’s website to see more of his wonderful artwork. He also is the TypePad guru at TypePad Hacks, where he shares tips about going under your blog’s hood and tweaking it to your heart’s content. Very cool.