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Mister G. Sgriccioli, Florence, 1886
Montalti, aristotype print on cardboard
Mister G. Sgriccioli was a depressive maniac with extravagant revolutionary ideas. Lombroso reports the man’s biography in the fifth edition of his book “The Criminal Man” (1896) attaching to the text an enlargement taken from this picture.
Born in Florence in 1853, Sgriccioli embarks on a merchant ship at young age. After ending his voyages, he embraced first a political-religious group, then he started to study the classics, in particular Dante. There were several tattoos on his body in memory of his many adventures.
When questioned about why there is crime, he answered that it exists as a revenge for victims and suggested as a possible remedy for theft to abolish private property. He tried to commit suicide on different occasions, killed a friend and was then declared insane.
On the front of the image it reads an ink inscription G. Sgriccioli. Laboratorio di Medicina Legale. Firenze 1886. Montalti (G. Sgriccioli, Forensic Medicin Laboratory, Florence, 1886, Montalti).