The Stone Breakers

Gustave Courbet

1849 · Oil on canvas · Formerly Gemäldegalerie, Dresden

Size4:3 ratio

Frame

$59Unframed print · made to order

📦 Free shipping on every order, arriving in 4–9 business days with production included. Express ($14.90) at checkout arrives in 4–6 business days.

Complete the setHangs well with these two

This print

The Stone Breakers

The Incredulity of Saint Thomas

The Cardsharps

3 × $59 at 24 × 18 in, unframed = $177 → $159.30 as a set · 10% included · free shipping

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Giclée-printed to order on heavyweight matte fine-art paper

Free shipping worldwide · arrives in 4–9 business days

Arrives perfect or we reprint it — free

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About this work

Artist: Gustave Courbet (1819–1877)
Year: 1849
Medium: Oil on canvas
Original size: 165 × 257 cm
Collection: Formerly Gemäldegalerie, Dresden (destroyed 1945)
Movement: Realism

Two road menders work on a bank beside a country road near Ornans: an old man in a straw hat kneeling to break stones with a hammer, and a boy in a torn shirt and one brace carrying a basket of broken rock, their faces hidden. Courbet saw them on the road in 1849 and had them pose in his studio; he painted them life-size and showed the picture at the Salon of 1850–51 with A Burial at Ornans, where its refusal to make poverty picturesque made it a founding image of Realism. Proudhon called it the first socialist painting. The canvas was bought by the Dresden collector and entered the Gemäldegalerie there, and it was destroyed in February 1945 when the lorry evacuating the collection was hit in the bombing of Dresden. It survives only in photographs and reproductions.

This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.

Where it works

Two labourers breaking and carrying stone on a sunlit bank, in ochre, brown and dusty blue, for a study, hallway or kitchen at 24×18 in natural wood. Stone, clay or olive walls suit the earth tones; pair it with A Burial at Ornans.

Style, size & framing detail

Style: Realism painting
Era: 19th century (1849)
Orientation: Landscape
Mood: classic
Rooms: kitchen, hallway or entryway, study or library, living room, dining room
Good gift for: housewarming, art lovers

Size. We'd hang this one at 24×18. Prints at 16×12, 24×18 in — 16×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×18 above a console or sideboard.

Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; natural wood lightens it.

Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).

Details & materials

• Restored in-house from the original painting — cleaned and colour-trued at museum resolution • Heavyweight matte fine-art paper, giclée printed at 300 DPI • Sizes: 16×12, 24×18 in; every size also available framed • Framed option: wood frame in black or natural wood, 12 mm wide and 22 mm deep, with a plexiglass front and no mat; the print is mounted inside and the frame's outside measures the listed size • Made to order; colours may vary slightly from screen

Shipping & returns

Printed after you order at the facility nearest you, then shipped. Standard delivery is free and takes 4–9 business days from order to door in the US, UK and EU (up to 10 elsewhere); Express takes 4–6 business days. Because each print is made to order we don't take change-of-mind returns, but if it arrives damaged or flawed we'll reprint or refund it — no return needed. Full policy →

Is this the whole painting, or a crop?

The whole work, uncropped. The image fills the print at the painting's own proportions; nothing is trimmed to fit a frame.

Is The Stone Breakers in the public domain?

Yes. Gustave Courbet (1819–1877) died more than 70 years ago and the work was published before 1929, so the painting itself is public domain. This print is a reproduction made from a high-resolution scan of the original, which is held by Formerly Gemäldegalerie.

What is it printed on?

Heavyweight matte fine-art paper with pigment inks, made to order in 16×12 and 24×18 inches; every size is also offered framed in black or natural wood, with plexiglass and no mat. Colours are matched to the scan, not brightened.

When was The Stone Breakers painted, and in what medium?

The Stone Breakers dates from 1849 and was made in oil on canvas; the original measures 165 × 257 cm.

What size works above a sofa or bed?

Across a three-seat sofa or a queen bed, 24×18 is the size that reads as one statement piece; 16×12 suits a narrower wall or a pair. For The Stone Breakers we'd choose 24×18. It is a landscape print, wider than it is tall, at the painting's own proportions.

About this design

The Stone Breakers (Gustave Courbet) — The Stone Breakers · Gustave Courbet · 1849. This is a fine-art reproduction of a public-domain masterwork, shown whole and uncropped on a gallery ground, printed to order on heavyweight matte fine-art paper. Every size is offered unframed or framed in black or natural wood. Part of the Madten Fine Art Collection. — — — Printed to order and shipped by our production partner, Gelato.

Buy with confidence

The Madten promise

Gallery-grade archival giclée. Rich pigment inks on heavyweight fine-art paper (or gallery-wrapped canvas) — built to last, not a poster-shop print.

Arrives perfect or we reprint it — free. Every piece is made to order; if it shows up damaged or flawed we remake it, no return needed.

Free worldwide shipping. Made & shipped from the facility nearest you — most orders arrive in 4–9 business days.

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