Giuseppe Verdi have, uniquely in his oeuvre, heroines who are, in the opera critic Joseph Kerman's words, "women who come to grief because of sexual transgression, actual or perceived". Kerman, like the psychologist Gerald Mendelssohn, sees this choice of subjects as being influenced by Verdi's uneasy passion for Strepponi. Verdi and Strepponi moved into Sant'Agata on 1 May 1851. May also brought an offer for a new opera from La Fenice, which Verdi eventually realised as "La traviata". That was followed by an agreement with the Rome Opera company to present "Il trovatore" for January 1853. Verdi now had sufficient earnings to
La Chapelle-aux-Saints 1 of Neanderthal anatomy based on la Chapelle-aux-Saints material shaped popular perceptions of the Neanderthals for over thirty years. The La Chapelle-aux-Saints specimen is typical of "classic" Western European Neanderthal anatomy. It is estimated to be about 60,000 years old. Boule's reconstruction of La Chapelle-aux-Saints 1, published during 1911–1913, depicted Neanderthals with a thrust-forward skull, a spine without curvature, bent hips and knees and a divergent big toe. This depiction fit in well with contemporary evolutionary scenarios in which Neanderthals were not considered to be direct ancestors of modern humans (the relationship of Neanderthals to modern humans remains a major debate