CONSTANTIN

MEUNIER (1831-1905)  , Belgian painter and sculptor, was born at Etterbeek, Brussels . His first exhibit was a plaster sketch, " The Garland," at the Brussels Salon in 1851 . Soon afterwards, on the advice of the painter Charles de Groux, he abandoned the chisel for the brush . His first important painting, " The Salle St Roch " (1857), was followed by a series of paintings including " A Trappist Funeral " (1860), " Trappists Ploughing " (1863), in collaboration with Alfred Verwee, " Divine Service at the Monastery of La Trappe " (1871) and episodes of the Peasants' War (1878) . About 188o he was commissioned to illustrate those parts of Camille Lemonnier's description of Belgium in Le Tour du monde which referred to miners and factory-workers, and produced " In the Factory," " Smithery at Cockerill's," " Melting Steel at the Factory at Seraing " (1882), " Returning from the Pit," and " The Broken Crucible " (1884) . In 1882 he was employed by the government to copy Pedro Carnpana's " Descent from the Cross " at Seville, and in Spain he painted such characteristic pictures as " The Cafe Concert," " Procession on Good Friday," and " The Tobacco Factory at Seville " (Brussels Gallery) . On his return to Belgium he was appointed professor at the Louvain Academy of Fine Arts . In 1885 he returned to statuary and produced " The Puddler," " The Hammerer " (r886), " Firedamp " (1889, Brussels Gallery), " Ecce Homo " (x891), " The Old Mine-Horse " (1891), " The Mower " (1892), " The Glebe " (1892), the monument to Father Damien at Louvain (1893), " Puddler at the Furnace " (1893), the scheme of decoration for the Botanic Garden at Brussels in collaboration with the sculptor Charles van der Stappen (1893), " The Horse at the Pond," in the square in the north-east quarter of Brussels, and two unfinished works, the " Monument to Labour " and the Zola monument, in collaboration with the French sculptor Charpentier . The " Monument to Labour," which was acquired by the State for the Brussels Gallery, comprises four stone bas-reliefs, " Industry," " The Mine," " Harvest," and the " Harbour "; four bronze statues, " The Sower " " The Smith " " The Miner," and the " Ancestor "; and a bronze group, " Maternity," Meunier died at Brussels on the 4th of April 1905 .