The Stone Breakers

The Stone Breakers, painted in 1849 by French artist Gustave Courbet, was formerly an influential piece of Realism genre. Unfortunately, the painting was destroyed, remaining only as an iconic depiction of the Realism movement. It was a genre painting, using common subjects rather than grandiose themes or figures. Courbet employed oil on a canvas to create this artwork, encapsulating the harsh realities of manual labor in an intensely real form. Though no longer existing, the painting is often cited in discussing the history and illustrative capacity of Realistic art.