Speaking to the Eye: The wild boar from San Rossore

Abstract

The article discusses a taxidermy work of a wild boar fighting two dogs. The tableau was made in 1824 by the Italian scientist Paolo Savi, director of the Natural History Museum in Pisa from 1823-1840. The point of departure is the sense of awe this brilliantly produced tableau evokes in the spectator. If an object could talk, what does the wild boar communicate? Stuffed animals are objects that operate in natural history exhibitions as well in several other contexts. They resist a standard classification, belonging to neither nature nor culture. The wild boar in question illustrates this ambiguity. To decode the tale of the boar, it is established as a centre in a network that connects Savi’s scientific and personal knowledge, the wild boar as a noble trophy, the development of the wild boar hunt in Tuscany, perceptions of the boar and the connection between science and art.

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