3684 - Luca Madrassi, Praying Spinner

Luca Madrassi, Praying Spinner c. 1900, signed and inscribed ‘Paris’ and bearing the maker’s mark ‘T & M Editeurs’, matt-painted terracotta, depicting a young woman seated on a bench, gazing into the distance in deep thought and prayer; shows signs of age; a surface chip on the reverse; the spindle is chipped, H 61 cm. Artist’s biography: French sculptor of Italian descent (1848, Tricesimo - 1919, Paris), studied art in Rome, then in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts under Pierre-Jules Cavelier; joined the studio of Albert Ernest Carrier-Belleuse and later that of Gustave Doré; became a French citizen in 1890; exhibited at the Salon of the Société des artistes français. Source: Thieme-Becker/Vollmer, Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler, published by Seemann Henschel GmbH & Co. KG, and the internet.