Explore the History of this artwork.
Gustave Courbet created works of art in the genre of realism and he described it as "my way of seeing". In 1855 Courbet claimed that the title of realist "was thrust upon him". Despite Courbet's statement he is given credit for coming up with the term realism. To demonstrate his style of painting in the realism genre, Courbet once claimed that he could not paint an angel because he never saw one. However in his work, The Stone Breakers, Courbet controlled the subject matter, giving the subject symbolic and intellectual components.He began work on The Stone Breakers painting in November 1849 after seeing two laborers breaking rocks along the road. Near the end of November 1849 Courbet sent a letter to his friends, French historian Francis Wey and his wife Marie Wey, describing how he found inspiration for the painting:I had taken our carriage to go to the Château of Saint-Denis to paint a landscape. Near Maisières I stopped to consider two men breaking stones on the road. One rarely encounters the most complete expression of poverty, so right there on the spot I got an idea for a painting. I made a date to meet them at my studio the following morning. And since then I have painted my picture.
Courbet went on to describe the clothing of the two peasants as representative of their low station. He also had sympathy for the two stone breakers and in letters he indicated that he was aware of the separation of classes. In describing the older worker he used the French word courbé (bent), which may have been a pun on his own last name Courbet.The Stone Breakers was first exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1850–1851. As a work of realism the subject matter addressed a scene of everyday life. The painting was meant to depict the hard labor that poor citizens experienced. Courbet created two versions of the painting.The second version of the painting is a mirror image and it is in the Oskar Reinhart Collection in Winterthur. Courbet signed it in the lower right corner. The second version is smaller, measuring 56 cm × 85 cm (22 in × 33 in), and it is darker.In c. 1864 Courbet created a drawing of the younger person portrayed in The Stone Breakers. The drawing is titled, A young stone breaker. It is a black crayon drawing on white paper and it is 29.5 cm × 21.1 cm (11.6 in × 8.3 in). The work is in the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford. The National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., also has a similar image of the young stone breaker. The image is attributed to Firmin Gillot and Courbet and it is from the René Huyghe collection. The dimensions of the work are 30.1 cm × 23.1 cm (11.9 in × 9.1 in).Before World War II the one version of the painting was housed at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden. The painting was acquired by the museum c. 1882 and it was referred to as "Courbet's monumental masterpiece." During World War II, from 13 to 15 February 1945, the Allies continuously bombed the city of Dresden, Germany. German troops hastily loaded artworks from Dresden's galleries and museums onto trucks. The Stone Breakers was destroyed, along with 153 other paintings, when a transport vehicle moving the pictures to the Königstein Fortress, near Dresden, was bombed by Allied forces.
Dresden French Firmin Gillot Dresden, Germany National Gallery of Art Winterthur Allies Paris Salon Ashmolean Museum René Huyghe Königstein Fortress University of Oxford Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Maisières realism Gustave Courbet bombed destroyed Oskar Reinhart Collection Francis Wey