Posted on 06/19/2019 10:21:49 AM PDT by BenLurkin
The gun will be auctioned in France on Wednesday (June 19), where it's expected to sell for more than $50,000.
For years, most Van Gogh experts have accepted the explanation that he shot himself in the chest with a pistol in a suicide in July 1890
Van Gogh lived on for 30 hours before dying from the wound. His last words, according to his brother Theo, were "the sadness will last forever."
But in 2011, biographers Gregory White Smith and Steven Naifeh argued that Van Gogh didn't shoot himself, but was shot accidentally by 16-year-old René Secrétan, who was spending the summer in the village.
According to their biography "Van Gogh: The Life" (Random House, 2011), Secrétan and his brother both befriended and bullied Van Gogh when he stayed at Auvers — and that Secrétan possessed the gun involved.
The gun being auctioned in Paris next week is a Belgian-made 7mm Lefaucheux revolver — a popular small caliber handgun at that time.
The gun matches the description of the 7mm bullet taken from Van Gogh's body by his doctor, and it is theorized that its low power may be why Van Gogh didn't die immediately, but staggered back to his hotel with the bullet still lodged in his chest.
The pistol was found by a farmer in 1965 — 75 years after Van Gogh's death — in a field at Auvers, badly corroded and beyond use. It was then given to the family who owned the hotel where Van Gogh died.
Grégoire Veyrès, the auctioneer for Auction Art who is conducting the sale, told Live Science that an investigation by the writer Alain Rohan determined that the corroded weapon had been buried in the ground for at least 50 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
Just a reflex response. I was always corrected on gun nomenclature by my old man. Heh, even heard his voice “ That would be a revolver, lad” as I typed. Muscle memory sort of
Sep 15, 1956 · Directed by Vincente Minnelli, George Cukor.
With Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, James Donald, Pamela Brown.
The life of brilliant but tortured artist Vincent van Gogh.
Willem Dafoe just got an Oscar nomination for playing van Gogh in At Eternity’s Gate last year.
If I couldn’t paint any better than a first grader, I might consider shooting myself.
Back in the Old West era, contemporary documents, show that most folks called revolvers “pistols,” i.e.’ Wild Bill Hikock, etc. Before revolvers first came on the scene in the late 1830s (Sam Colt’s invention), most single and double barreled handguns were called “pistols.”
Revolver vs Pistol...Is that a distinction without a difference, or other way around? Both are handguns...
Matchlocks, flintlocks, percussion cap and ball, revolvers and semi auto mag fed have all from time to time and place to place been referred to as “pistols” in the broader, generic sense...All are handguns...
Many have “pistols” that fire rifle cartridges and look just like SBRs...I suppose the relatively recent ATF driven distinction between revolvers and semi auto mag fed handguns serves a purpose where legalistic precision of description is concerned, but in the broader term, there’s really nothing wrong with describing or referring to any handgun as a pistol, and doing so casts no doubt on the IQ of the writer...OTOH, the wise man always distinguishes...
It’s a revolver - a pistol looks like a Model 1911 - magazine, slide, etc.....
Interesting. Will keep a lookout for that and see how it compares with “Lust for Life”
Usually I buy everything I want, but there is a limit. I’ll wait until it is on HBO, Showtime, or Starz which I subscribe too.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.