Who is Mahoudeau from The Masterpiece and what is their importance?

Mahoudeau is a member of Lantier's rebel artists. He is a sculptor, whose work is largely overlooked by the Parisians. Poverty stricken, he lives in deplorable conditions and bitter cold in the wintertime. His masterpiece, the Bathing Woman, begins to melt and crumble in his studio when he lights a fire to take the chill off the room. Thankfully, he is able to salvage enough of the work to reduce it to an image of a young girl instead of a woman. Symbolically, the new sculpture represents his achievement as being less than his ability. He eventually blames his failures on Claude.