The current view of Neanderthal man is that they were a separate species of human that lived in Europe and the middle east until the last ice age. The old image of a hunched and hairy brute dragging a club through the dust is as extinct at the Neanderthals themselves. The Neanderthal looked after their infirm, created art, made weapons, used fire, hunted large game and probably had language. Thier cranial capacity is larger then modern humans, but thier brains were shaped differently. Neanderthal was a cousin of Homo sapiens, not an ancestor.
It would not surprise me that old reconstructions of Neanderthal were made to appear more apelike , since that was the prevailing attitude at the time. A similar notion swayed our image of dinosaurs too. Until the 80's dinosaurs were thought of as slow moving, awkward creatures. Models, skeletons and even toys depicted creatures that dragged their tails and stood erect. That interpretation has changed somewhat, and they are regarded as more agile.
Preconceptions and misconceptions have also colored studies in just about all major fields of science.