| Abstrakt: |
In 1870, the Piedmontese artist Andrea Gastaldi produced an amazing painting representing the tragic scene of a brown bear lying dead and two young men who appear to be badly wounded, one of them already dying. Around him, some members of his tribe are desperately trying to help. On the ground, at his side, are two stone weapons with wooden handles. One of these handles is inserted in a hole in the artefact. But where did his inspiration come from? And why did he represent this peculiar hand axe in his painting? In this essay, the author advances the hypothesis that Gastaldi’s brother, Bartolomeo, who was a geologist and an early parttime anthropologist, gave him the idea to portray a moment of prehistoric life in the high valley of the river Roja, in the Maritime Alps, and to include a stone object that he knew was kept in the National Artillery Museum in Turin. A few years earlier, this archaeological find had been given to the Museum by king Vittorio Emanuele II and the well-known Museum’s Director Angelo Angelucci had described it in a report. Now the painting is safely stored in the Modern Art Gallery in Turin and the axe remains in the Museum, which is currently closed and struggles to be re-opened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
