CARVING

Ravalli, Fr. Anthony, S.J. (1812-1884)

ca. 1870

X1904.01.02

Father Anthony Ravalli (1812—1884) carved this wooden sculpture of a human skull and crossed femur bones. The beloved priest ministered to both Indians and non-Indians alike, from the time of his arrival in the Bitterroot Valley in 1845 until his death in 1884. An accomplished sculptor, Father Ravalli created this carving as a memento mori—a convention in art dating to the Middle Ages—to remind viewers that death was inevitable but adherence to Christian principals in this life ensured Paradise in the next. Father Ravalli - whom one biographer termed a "pioneer-architect-sculptor-craftsman-physician-priest" - was born in Italy and schooled there in theology, medicine, mathematics, chemistry, philosophy, mechanics, architecture, and art before Father Pierre-Jean De Smet enlisted him to work among the Indians of the Rocky Mountains.