The Belgian sculptor Meunier’s realistic depictions of men engaged in hard physical work were considered modern and innovative for the 1880s. Meunier mostly gathered his models from the rolling mills, glass furnaces and factories of the industrial region of Wallonia. His portrayal of the working class made him internationally famous—an artistic equivalent of literature’s Émile Zola. The bronzes were sold in large editions, among other ways through mail order catalogues.