Honoré ICARD (1843-1917) - Lot 278

Honoré ICARD (1843-1917) Probably Maximilien de Béthune, Duc de Sully (1559-1641) Bronze with light-brown patina Signed "H. ICARD" on the terrace H. 64 cm Related literature: -Toussaint Nigoul, "Honoré Icard", in L'Ariège Pittoresque, July 3, 1913, no. 55, Born into an Ariège family, Honoré Icard trained as a carpenter and cabinetmaker before joining the French army during the Franco-Prussian war. Imprisoned in Strasbourg, the young man was released and moved to Paris, where his talent for carving wood led him to take modeling classes in the workshops of Aimé Millet and Auguste Dumont at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris. He quickly made a name for himself at the Salon with a figure of Saint Jerome, for which he won a third medal. A frequent visitor to museums, salons and galleries, Paris offered him a rich cultural life from which to draw inspiration. Like our statuette, probably of the Duc de Sully, Honoré Icard produced numerous historicist portraits, including the Duc de Luynes, a bronze monument to Pierre Bayle, a bust of Armand-Gaston Camus, Laurent Coster and Molière.