Constantin Meunier

Constantin Meunier (French pronunciation: [kɔ̃stɑ̃tɛ̃ mønje]; 12 April 1831 – 4 April 1905) was an influential Belgian painter and sculptor who is best known for his realist depictions of agricultural labourers, metalworkers, dockers, and coal miners, especially from the 1880s and 1890s.

Constantin Meunier was born in the traditionally working-class area of Etterbeek on the outskirts of the city of Brussels. His family was poor and suffered from the economic hardship following the Belgian Revolution (1830) which took place the year before Meunier's birth. Meunier's father committed suicide when he was just four years old.

Meunier began studying sculpture at the age of 14 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Brussels in September 1845. He studied under the sculptor Louis Jehotte (1804–84) from 1848. He also attended from 1852 the private studio of the sculptor Charles-Auguste Fraikin.