George Minne, The Small Relic Bearer, 1897
Blue limestone. William Francis Warden Fund, Tamara Petrosian Davis Sculpture Fund, John Lowell Gardner Fund, and H.E. Bolles Fund.
The Small Relic Bearer presents one of George Minne’s most characteristic subjects—a slender kneeling youth, nude and deep in thought. Minne was one of only a few sculptors working in the Symbolist style and had a strong impact in Belgium and beyond, including in Vienna around 1900. Remarkable for its Belgian blue limestone, this sculpture is distinguished by the mesmerizing patterns of tool marks that shape forms and enliven the surface, edging toward abstraction.
Blue limestone.
William Francis Warden Fund, Tamara Petrosian Davis Sculpture Fund, John Lowell Gardner Fund, and H.E. Bolles Fund.