Lot 93: Philippe Parrot-Lecomte , French d. 1936 The Sculptor's Studio oil on canvas

signed Ph. PARROT-LECOMTE (lower right) oil on canvas

measurements 43 by 47 in. alternate measurements 109.2 by 119.3 cm

Gladys Moon Jones, Washington, D.C.
Thence by descent to the present owner

The French sculptor Honoré Icard (1845-1917) sent his first submissions to the Paris Salon of 1875, and many of his most notable works appear in Parrot-Lecomte's view of the sculptor's studio. Unlike the comfortable, well-appointed rooms of many painters' studios, Icard's space is utilitarian, its high ceilings and lack of ornament conducive to large-scale projects. One such work, the monumental bearded figure with arms outstretched is Le Destin of the Salon of 1895, though its white surface suggests it may also be the marble version of the same name submitted in 1914. A smaller clay model or "maquette" for the sculptors' l'Araignée (The Spider) of 1890 rests upon the table, surrounded by tools used to smooth and shape wax, terracotta or stone. While sculptors' ideas began in drawings and sketchbooks (here, Icard's is tucked into a portfolio resting against the table leg), maquettes were experiments which allowed the development of form and sense of space for larger, finished works without concern for smooth surface or detail and reduced the risk of mistakes made on weighty and dearly expensive final materials of rare marble or bronze casting (John Milner, The Studios of Paris, The Capital of Art in the Late Nineteenth Century, New Haven, 1988, pp. 72-73). Absorbed in his work, Icard refines the leg of a large model for Le Christ au tombeau (descente de croix) first exhibited in 1896, with a marble version in 1914. Standing atop a wooden turntable, the figure holding the fallen Christ replicates the nude, male model holding a strong pose, while another bare-chested model, or perhaps Icard's practicien (studio assistant), observes the scene. Practiciens were often responsible for the preliminary roughing out of a block of stone--incredibly demanding work often revealed in their well developed muscles (Milner, p 74). The woman detailing a clay bust is likely another accomplished sculptor: Francine Ducrot-Icard, also Icard's wife. Her identity is further suggested by the relief hung below the wooden shelves in the left of studio, possibly a study or reduction of Les Vierges folles of 1903, one of the first works the husband and wife completed together. The Icards lived in the western Paris suburb of St. Germain-en-Laye, a town familiar to Parrot-Lecomte, who captured the community's figures and landmarks in his own work (celebrated by his posthumous exhibition held in the town's Salle des Fêtes in 1936). Both Icard's craft and Parrot-Lecomte's work were particularly appreciated by one of The Sculptor's Studio's early owners, Gladys Moon Jones, a noted Washington, D.C. journalist and talented sculptor herself.