Grand Prix De Monaco

This wonderful bronze captures the excitement of a Bugatti racing car speeding through the streets of Monte Carlo at the Monaco Grand Prix. The influence of cubism on Becquerel's work is suggested in the present sculpture, particularly in the modelling of the rocky cliff. Overall, the stylisation of the Bugatti automobile, figures and rockwork lends a simplicity that is well at home in this wonderful composition. Becquerel was a pupil of Hector Lemaire and Prosper Lecourtier at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris. He specialised primarily in animal sculpture in the Art Deco style, which he exhibited at the Salon des Artistes Français from 1914 to 1922. His most famous work is The Finish, depicting two racehorses in a photo-finish.