Constantin MEUNIER (1831-1905) The Sower, 1895 Bronze... Lot 21

Constantin MEUNIER (1831-1905) The Sower, 1895 Bronze with light brown patina. Signed C. Meunier on the terrace. Stamped by the founder Verbeyst. H. 57,5 cm RELATED WORKS : Constantin Meunier, The Sower, 1896, bronze, H. 233 W.94 D. 93 cm, Brussels, Middelheim musuem, inv. MID.KM.1982 ; Constantin Meunier, Un semeur, 1895, bronze, signed on the terrace C meunier, founder's mark FONDU PAR VERBEYST / POUR L'ATELIER CONSTANTIN MEUNIER BRUXELLES, H. 57,2 W. 23,5 D. 24,8 cm, Brussels, Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, inv. 10000/106. RELATED LITERATURE : - Francisca Vandepitte, Constantin Meunier: 1831-1905, cat. exp. Brussels, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, 20 September 2014 - 11 January 2015, Tielt, Lannoo, 2014, model listed under cat. no. 58, p. 146. - Micheline Hanotelle, Paris-Brussels: Rodin and Meunier. Relation des sculpteurs français et belges à la fin du XIXe siècle, Paris, Editions du Temps, 1982, model reproduced p. 168. Close to Rodin, Constantin Meunier brought miners, harvesters and blacksmiths, who represent the working class, into the field of sculpture. The Sower is part of Meunier's work, which can be characterised as "social art", like the series of The Hammerer and The Miner, the first examples of which were presented at the Salon by the artist in May 1886, just one year after the publication of Zola's Germinal.