Which German realist painter created the monumental work 'The Iron Rolling Mill'?

Adolph Menzel created The Iron Rolling Mill, a monumental German realist painting produced between 1872 and 1875. Its German title, Eisenwalzwerk (Moderne Cyklopen), can be translated as The Iron Rolling Mill (Modern Cyclopes).

Rather than depicting a mythological hero or grand historical event, Menzel showed the demanding reality of industrial labor. The scene takes place at the Königshütte rolling mill in Upper Silesia and includes workers handling glowing iron, operating machinery, resting during a meal, and washing after their shift. The painting brought industrial life—normally considered an unheroic subject—into the scale and seriousness of history painting.

Menzel prepared the work with more than 100 pencil studies covering machinery, lighting, and the workers’ movements. The finished oil painting measures about 158 by 254 centimeters and is held by Berlin’s Alte Nationalgalerie. It is often discussed as both a realist record of modern industry and a complex reflection on labor, technology, and social change.