Solidarity, 1898 (marble)

In 1898 the Belgian Labor Party commissioned from Minne a memorial for the Socialist leader Jean Volders. The sculptor decided that an allegory of brotherhood-consisting of two nude youths standing in a boat, anxiously trying to keep their balance in a storm-would be more appropriate than a traditional portrait of the deceased. The Labor Party disliked the design and refused to have it executed in stone. In anger, Minne destroyed his large plaster model, but a smaller study remained in his studio and was later cast in bronze. This marble version is the only carved example of the composition known to have been completed.