“Stone Crushers ” ( fr. Les Casseurs de pierres ; other names Road Stone Crushers, Stonecutters ) is a painting by French artist Gustave Courbet , written in 1849 [1] . Stored in the Dresden Gallery . It was destroyed on February 13, 1945. During the transport of 154 paintings to Königstein Fortress , the transport was in the area of bombardment by the Allied forces [2] [3] [4] [5] .
| ||
| Gustave Courbet | ||
| Stone Crushers 1849 | ||
| fr Les casseurs de pierres | ||
| oil on canvas . 170 × 240 cm | ||
| lost in 1945 | ||
Content
Description
The painting depicts two full-size men engaged in heavy, exhausting work, against the background of a dark hill. In worn clothes, turning away from the viewer, they are absorbed in their work. One carries a large basket with an already crushed stone, while the other, standing on one knee, swung a hammer with a long handle. Various utensils are depicted around the figures: on the left - a wicker basket, on the right - a pot, a spoon and a piece of black bread.
At the bottom left is the artist's big orange signature.
History
The painting was painted in 1849 and was one of three works presented to Courbet at the Paris Salon of 1850–1851 ( “The Flagee Peasants Return from the Fair” and “The Funeral in Ornan” )
Courbet wrote that he accidentally met these workers on the edge of the road [6] [7] :
| I went to Saint-Denis Castle to write a landscape, (...) I stopped to look at two men at the edge of the road, rarely one can see a more complete expression of suffering, and a sketch appeared ... |
The workers agreed to pose for the artist.
Courbet presents his picture as follows:
| This picture depicts two crushers who are very sorry; one old man, like an old car that has become tough because of work and age; dark head covered with a straw hat, blackened by dust and rain. His hands are visible from beneath a rough linen shirt; a horn snuff box with a copper edging looks out of a striped vest pocket; his knee lies on a straw flare, through the worn blue stockings is visible the heel of the cracked foot. Behind him, a young man of about fifteen, having ringworm; the rags of dirty linen serve him as a shirt that does not close his arms and sides: his trousers support a leather strap, and on his feet are worn old shoes of his father. Lettre de Courbet à Jules Champfleury , Ornans, printemps 1850 |
The painting was first exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1850-1851. Then - at the personal exhibition Courbet in 1867, after which Laurent-Richard bought it, which resold the painting in 1871 to Beenan. In 1909, after the death of Binan, the painting was acquired by the Galleries of old masters from Dresden [8] . The canvas was destroyed during the bombing of the city in February 1945 .
Preserved the first two preparatory sketches of oil. The first one, 65 x 66 cm in size, shows two workers standing on the left, with the signature on the bottom right. He is exhibited in the Oscar Reinhart Museum "Am Römerholz" ( Winterthur , Switzerland ) [7] . On the second, 45 x 54.5 cm in size, only one worker in a hat is depicted. Stored in a private collection. There was also a pencil drawing of a young crusher ( the Eshmola Museum ).
Criticism
The philosopher Proudhon called the picture "the first social manifesto" [9] [10] .
Notes
- ↑ Change . - True, 1998. - 884 p.
- ↑ Schlesser, Thomas. Le journal de Courbet . - Paris: Hazan, 2007. - 391 pages p. - ISBN 9782754100243 , 2754100245.
- ↑ Philip Hook. The Stonebreakers . - Hodder & Stoughton, 2013-12-19. - 332 s. - ISBN 9781444784923 .
- ↑ National Gallery of Art (US), Staresliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York NY), Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. The Splendor of Dresden, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, June 1-September 4, 1978, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Oct. 21, 1978-January 13, 1979, The Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, February 18-May 26, 1979 . - Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1978. - 281 p. - ISBN 9780870991776 .
- ↑ Robert Adams. The Lost Museum: Glimpses of Vanished Originals . - Viking Press, 1980. - 264 p. - ISBN 9780670441075 .
- ↑ Fried, Michael, 1939- ... 2 // Le réalisme de Courbet . - [Paris]: Gallimard, 1993. - 416 p .- [56] p. de pl. en noir et en coul. with. - ISBN 2070730514 , 9782070730513.
- ↑ 1 2 Clark, TJ (Timothy J.). Image of the people: Gustave Courbet and the 1848 revolution . - Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999. - 208 pages p. - ISBN 0520217454 , 9780520217454.
- ↑ Gazette des beaux-arts , juillet 1929, P ..
- ↑ 1000 masterpieces of world art . - Liters, 2019-02-21. - 355 s. - ISBN 9785041415129 .
- ↑ Vladimir Mironov. Peoples and personalities in history . - Liters, 2017-09-05. - 964 s. - ISBN 9785425096746 .