The Stone Breakers
The Stone Breakers completed in 1849 was an important representative work of Courbet, which was one of the representative works of realism. In this painting measuring 160 × 259 cm, the painter highlighted two stone breakers. One old and one young wore sackcloth and crude clogs, which were knocking along the road and moving the stones. This scene was seen by Courbet on the way. This masonry scene shocked him. On November 20, 1849, Courbet wrote to his friend: "I take four-wheel coach to St. Dennis palace. On the road I stopped to look at the two stone breakers. It is not easy to meet such poor scene." He was determined to describe them. He invited two workers to his studio and asked them to do modeling. He went to the field to draw some sketches. In order to emphasize the hard life of these workers, except in a format like relief-like stereo displaying two body tall masonry, cookware coppers were added in the background. The around was a desolate bear hill. In the hot sun, two stone breakers were working along the road. The upper frame was covering the top of the hill. In the right corner behind the hill, only a corner of the sky was revealed. Courbet said that he saw these people every day he walked. Moreover, people in this class often lived such life.
Gustave Courbet's The Stone Breakers was a painting of masonry deep connotations. The plot occurred in the scorching sun and in the roadside ditch. An old and a young turned their back to us and their slightly arched back was highlighted in the towering dark green and yellow soil slopes. Slopes almost filled the entire screen covered with a thick cloud, only a small corner of the blue sky appeared in the back toward the upper right corner hillside. Hat, shovel, hammer, basket, aluminum pot hemming, young Mason who rips, old Mason knee patches as well as his solemn expression were emblazoned. The painter's accurate performance with its real portrays shocked people greatly, which had great compassion and big sigh.
