The Digger - After Alfred Boucher - Bronze Barbedienne

Large bronze of the "digger" after the sculptor Alfred Boucher (1850-1934). Foundry F. Barbedienne.

Alfred Boucher represents a worker of the earth like an athletic Hercules, his feet firmly wedged in the earth, his muscles tight, his veins bulging, all of his strength concentrated on the shovel planted in the ground. The sculptor is inspired by the Torso du Belvédère or the Discobolus by Myron for this subject of social concern, deviating from a naturalist treatise as a Dalou or a Meunier could do and achieving an archetypal and timeless vision of the work. It is indeed a question of magnifying the work, of glorifying the effort but also of idealizing the masculine beauty. The artist will be described in his time as "Millet of sculpture". This sculpture earned Boucher a medal of honor at the Salon of 1891. The State acquired a marble today in the gardens of the Palais Galliera in Paris.

Old bronze proof. Magnificent dark brown patina.
Signed on the "A. Boucher". Foundry mark "F. Barbedienne. Fondeur. Paris".

Size. H.: 41 x L.: 31 x D.: 19 cm.