Details
- Object type
figure
- Title
The Hammerman
- Artist/Maker
Constantin Meunier maker
- Culture/School
Realism
- Place Associated
Belgium (place of manufacture)
- Date
1886
- Materials
bronze
- Dimensions
overall: 475 mm x 260 mm x 156 mm 9626 g
- Description
-
Figure of a hammersmith, standing on a square base. He holds a pair of tongs in his right hand, and wears protective workwear, including headgear and an apron.
Le Meunier was a Belgian sculptor who favoured social realism as a theme for this art, often depicting labourers. In this regard, he can be seen as working in a similar vein to French Realist painters such as Corot, Courbet and Millet. The image of the blacksmith was a particularly important one for the Realists, regarding the profession as noble in its retention of ancient methods. This old-fashioned method of production was seen as the antithesis of the machinery and mass production offered by industrialisation.
‘Le Marteleur’ was first modelled around 1884, with the plaster cast exhibited at the Paris Salon, 1886. The original version was life-sized- a cast of this can be seen at Colombia University, USA.
- Credit Line/Donor
Gifted by Sir William and Lady Burrell to the City of Glasgow, 1944
- Collection
Burrell Collection: European Statuary Bronzes
- ID Number
7.5
- Location
Burrell Collection