after Gabriel Max
Pithecanthropus europaeus (Alalus)
1894
rare large-format photogravure, possibly hand-pulled, after Gabriel Max's painting of 1894 that was dedicated to Ernst Haeckel
24.75 x 17.5 in. (framed 29.75 x 26.75 in.)
publisher: Franz Hanfstaengl, Munich
typographic inscription in the lower margin: "G. MAX. PITHECANTHROPUS ALALUS. Copyright 1894 by Franz Hanfstaengl."
reproduced inscription lower right in original painting: "Pithecanthropus europaeus (Alalus)"
reproduced signature, dedication, and date lower left in original painting: "G. Max gewidmet Ernst Häkel 16. Februar 1894"
Gabriel von Max dedicated the painting Pithecanthropus europaeus (Alalus) to evolutionary biologist Ernst Haeckel and gifted it to him. The painting is now in the collection of Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena, Germany, where Haeckel was based. In 1894, publisher Franz Hanfstaengl created a photogravure reproduction of the painting. Hanfstaengl was known for the high quality of his photogravures, and the Pithecanthropus photogravure, in particular, was published widely and much discussed in the scientific literature. This large-format version of the Pithecanthropus photogravure is rare; we have never encountered another example.
Popularly
known as “Java Man,” Pithecanthropus (a label first coined by Haeckel as a
theoretical model) was the scientific name given to the hominid fossil remains
discovered in 1891 in East Java, Indonesia, by Dutch palaeoanthropologist Eugéne
Dubois. It was one of the first known
fossil remains of the species now called Homo erectus (the nomenclature
Pithecanthropus is now rather archaic); “Peking Man” was the other early
specimen. At the time, Dubois and others
argued that it was the missing link between apes and humans, a claim no longer
made.
General References:
Hans Marshall, "Gabriel Max. Zu seinem 70. Geburtstag am 23. August," Reclams Universum Moderne illustrierte Wochenschrift (Leipzig: Verlag Philipp Reclam, 1910), 26. Jahrgang, Zweiter Halbband, pgs.1160-1167, discussing "Pithecanthropus" at pgs. 1165-1166.
