Attributed to Félix LECOMTE (Paris, 1737 - Paris,... Lot 25

Attributed to Félix LECOMTE (Paris, 1737 - Paris, 1817) The sacrifice of Abraham Oval bas-relief in terracotta. Height : 42.5 cm - Width : 34.5 cm - Weight : 1.8 cm In its original giltwood frame. Third quarter of the 18th century. If the orders of religious sculptures remain important in the 18th century, they remain most often associated and subjected to the architecture unlike this oval relief representing the Sacrifice of Abraham which refers to the much rarer sphere of private devotion. For such a subject, which leaves little room for interpretation, Lecomte most certainly relied on an engraved model, perhaps that of Israel Silvestre the Younger (1621-1691) (fig.1), whose narrow frame, but above all the expression of the figures, presents close similarities. Modelled with infinite delicacy, it highlights a facet of the art of Félix Lecomte, who was more at ease with religious subjects than secular ones, and who mastered the art of relief much better than that of the ronde-bosse. It is a perfect example illustrating the theories on relief art developed at the same time by Camille Falconet but also by Michel-François Dandré-Bardon. Bibliography : - S. Lami, Dictionnaire des sculpteurs de l'école française au dix-huitième siècle, Paris, 1910, t. 2, pp. 41-47. - Dominique Dinet, " La ferveur religieuse dans la France du XVIIIème siècle ", Revue d'histoire de l'Eglise de France, n° 203, 1993, pp. 275-299. - Guilhem Scherf, " De la malignité d'un microbe " : l'antique et le bas-relief moderne ", de Falconet à David d'Angers, Revue de l'Art, 1994, n°105, pp. 19-32. - Jacqueline-Edmonde Tissier, "Félix Lecomte (1737-1817). La carrière sous Louis XV d'un sculpteur aujourd'hui méconnu ", in : Paris, capitale des arts sous Louis XV, Annales du centre Ledoux, t. 1, 1997, pp. 129-148. - Guilhem Scherf, "Le Bas-relief", in cat. expo. L'esprit créateur. De Pigalle à Canova. Terres cuites européennes, 1740-1840, Paris, Musée du Louvre, Sept. 2003 - Jan. 2004, pp.154-156. - Amélie Boutrand, "Les Sacrements de Félix Lecomte (1737-1817). Sculpture religieuse et didactique sacrée au siècle des Lumières", Les Publications du GHAMU, s.d., pp. 1-16.