Tonnelier, Homme appuyé sur une pelle des deux mains, Puddleur à la tenaille avec masque et tablier, and Balayeuse

Jules Dalou, a dedicated republican and former communard, was a fervant champion of the working man. Thus towards the end of his life, the artist began an ambitious personal project to create a monument “à la glorification des travailleurs”. Taking it upon himself to visit mines, factories, and farms, the artist created numerous studies of every type of labourer, imbuing them with great dignity and respect. Unfortunately Dalou died before his project could be realised, the casts of the present models only produced posthumously (see A. Simier, Jules Dalou, le sculpteur de la République, Paris, 2013, pp. 202-301).