DOI Heft:
No. 52 (July, 1897)
DOI Artikel:Sparrow, Walter Shaw: Constantin Meunier: the artist of the Flemish collieries
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18389#0100
Constantin Meunier
Meunier has given to this
old battered carcase of a
horse. Its pathos is extra-
ordinary. For the faces of
old and suffering beasts are
like those of old people—
faces made up of misery and
resignation, tragic faces, in
which may be read, better
than in a book, the injustice
that presses on the hard lives
of the poor. Such is the
magic of the masterpiece,
that, without any sentimen-
tality or rhetoric, eloquent
only by its form, this little
bronze conjures up the
whole life of the mine, the
terrible mine .... and
thought travels with deep
depression from tortured
the belgian black country by constantin meunier ^ ^ ^
. . . This old colliery horse
His hollow sides, barred by his ribs, speak of sums up the whole tragedy."
plentiful blows and scanty corn. Yet he has Also it sums up nearly all the work of Con-
worked hard, poor brute ! ... It has always been stantin Meunier. That work is seldom relieved by
night for him, in low galleries, the roof of which gaiety; in it the sun rarely shines. One wearies
grazed his back as he toiled along. . . . His legs for the sound of laughter. If Shakespeare in all
are bent at the knees and swollen at the fetlocks, his tragedies makes us think sometimes of Falstaff
With nerveless flanks, and flaccid hocks, he rests and Prince Hal, it is precisely because unrelenting
on his crumpled hoof,
after the manner of tired ................. ............__________
beasts. His neck, with its 'i^^^^^^ IS-___ ' '
scanty mane, his shoulders, K^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
marked by the collar, make . -^^^^^^^^^^^^ "^^^ ^\
almost a straight line with -^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^V^ \
the hind-quarters, and pass- ^^^^^^^^^^^t^-^^^ ^^^^^^^p^
divides at the meagre croup ^^^^^M^^ ^p^'f/^||^^^P^^ ' j
His head hangs a^ittle§to l^ikf^W^" /^^^
one side, his ears droop, • /} fl;iW'' ^h^^^m ^' ' '
his jaw falls. His eye is X^M^kh V ■ T%8, uF^VW W/J
dim, mournful and gentle, ^/Lffk^ ^# VV
veiled as it were by a mist • '^v-^' i^lfc' ^^*'\Wt '\m
of darkness. Tears have \ jMffi*™'-
left their channels on his t ■ FwBl Mf'^^l^^^ ill 7/|\l (f*
skin. He is motionless; /)^^>SL W ' Jl$9| • f]\\ \
not a muscle, not a hair %^ J'^^l' ' j l^j) 1
stirs; spent and helpless, fc^^'lP $ : *^§fT ^\\ ! %sz/t?
he will lie down but to die. flti/Mm '>> ~'mfim^ l\ / x3m
■ • ■ One of the finest . 1:M t |«^^ \ , ,
touches of observation in
this study is the face colliers in the pit from a drawing by c. meunier
83
Meunier has given to this
old battered carcase of a
horse. Its pathos is extra-
ordinary. For the faces of
old and suffering beasts are
like those of old people—
faces made up of misery and
resignation, tragic faces, in
which may be read, better
than in a book, the injustice
that presses on the hard lives
of the poor. Such is the
magic of the masterpiece,
that, without any sentimen-
tality or rhetoric, eloquent
only by its form, this little
bronze conjures up the
whole life of the mine, the
terrible mine .... and
thought travels with deep
depression from tortured
the belgian black country by constantin meunier ^ ^ ^
. . . This old colliery horse
His hollow sides, barred by his ribs, speak of sums up the whole tragedy."
plentiful blows and scanty corn. Yet he has Also it sums up nearly all the work of Con-
worked hard, poor brute ! ... It has always been stantin Meunier. That work is seldom relieved by
night for him, in low galleries, the roof of which gaiety; in it the sun rarely shines. One wearies
grazed his back as he toiled along. . . . His legs for the sound of laughter. If Shakespeare in all
are bent at the knees and swollen at the fetlocks, his tragedies makes us think sometimes of Falstaff
With nerveless flanks, and flaccid hocks, he rests and Prince Hal, it is precisely because unrelenting
on his crumpled hoof,
after the manner of tired ................. ............__________
beasts. His neck, with its 'i^^^^^^ IS-___ ' '
scanty mane, his shoulders, K^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
marked by the collar, make . -^^^^^^^^^^^^ "^^^ ^\
almost a straight line with -^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^V^ \
the hind-quarters, and pass- ^^^^^^^^^^^t^-^^^ ^^^^^^^p^
divides at the meagre croup ^^^^^M^^ ^p^'f/^||^^^P^^ ' j
His head hangs a^ittle§to l^ikf^W^" /^^^
one side, his ears droop, • /} fl;iW'' ^h^^^m ^' ' '
his jaw falls. His eye is X^M^kh V ■ T%8, uF^VW W/J
dim, mournful and gentle, ^/Lffk^ ^# VV
veiled as it were by a mist • '^v-^' i^lfc' ^^*'\Wt '\m
of darkness. Tears have \ jMffi*™'-
left their channels on his t ■ FwBl Mf'^^l^^^ ill 7/|\l (f*
skin. He is motionless; /)^^>SL W ' Jl$9| • f]\\ \
not a muscle, not a hair %^ J'^^l' ' j l^j) 1
stirs; spent and helpless, fc^^'lP $ : *^§fT ^\\ ! %sz/t?
he will lie down but to die. flti/Mm '>> ~'mfim^ l\ / x3m
■ • ■ One of the finest . 1:M t |«^^ \ , ,
touches of observation in
this study is the face colliers in the pit from a drawing by c. meunier
83