The artist Charles Knight (1874-1953) cut his prehistoric teeth on dinosaurs, like his patron and mentor Henry F. Osborn. When Osborn turned his attention to cave men, Knight followed suit. Osborn commissioned two paintings from Knight for this book. One shows several Neanderthals standing outside their cave and can be seen on the exhibition wall panel, “Neanderthals;” it is much more sympathetic than the crude depiction by Wilser’s artist (see item 39). The other Knight painting, seen here, shows an Altamira cave painter at work. Knight cleverly includes an invention without which cave paintings would have been impossible: the oil lamp.
Neanderthal men at Le Moustier, drawing by Charles R. Knight. Image source: Osborn, Henry Fairfield. Men of the Old Stone Age. New York: Scribner’s, 1915, pl. 1.
Pithecanthropus erectus restoration by J. H. McGregor. Image source: Osborn, Henry Fairfield. Men of the Old Stone Age. New York: Scribner’s, 1915, pl. 3.
Discovery sites of the type of specimens of human and prehuman races. Image source: Osborn, Henry Fairfield. Men of the Old Stone Age. New York: Scribner’s, 1915, pl. 2.
