A FRENCH WHITE MARBLE FIGURE OF AN EGYPTIAN PRIESTESS

A pupil of Dantan, Guillaume and Cavelier, André Joseph Allar (d.1926) won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1869 and continued his studies in Italy. Returning to France in early 1870s, Allar exhibited at the Salon and at the Universal Exhibitions, winning numerous medals. A versatile and prolific sculptor, Allar worked in various media with equal success. His oeuvre includes many commissions for the decoration of public buildings and monuments, such as the Palais de Justice, the Opéra-Comique, the anatomy gallery at the Jardin des Plantes and the Grand Palais.