Étienne-Maurice Falconet

The Brazen Rider in Saint Petersburg

Étienne-Maurice Falconet (born December 1, 1716 in Paris , † January 24, 1791 in Paris) was a French sculptor .

Life

Etienne-Maurice Falconet, who came from a poor family, was trained in Paris under Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne and was first known in 1739 through a statue of Milon von Kroton (Fig. 1).

L'amour menaçant , the “threatening cupid” (Fig. 3, 5), was Falconet's first major salon success. He presented it to the public as a plaster model in 1755, later in 1757 next to La Baigneuse as a marble statue - both figures were to become famous throughout Europe. Amor's plaster draft had already aroused not only the enthusiasm of the critics, but also that of Madame de Pompadour , who commissioned him for her Paris apartment in 1755, on the very first day of the exhibition. Copies were also u. a. sold to Catherine II of Russia .

L'Amour menaçant , Louvre

On July 5, 1757, a few weeks after he had his first resounding success in the Salon de mai , Falconet took up the post of Artistic Director of the sculpture atelier of the porcelain factory in Sèvres . A member of the Academy since 1754, although he had already attracted attention, he had not yet been able to establish his status as an artistic greatness. The work in Sèvres should not only help the father of three to achieve financial security, but also to achieve international fame. He stayed with Sèvres for 9 years, but during this time he continued to create large-format sculptures for public spaces, churches and palaces. Some of these sculptures were also made in porcelain on a smaller scale, such as B. La Baigneuse , Pygmalion et Galatée or L'amour menaçant .

Pygmalion & Galatée . Hermitage, St Petersburg

In 1766 he followed the call to the court of Catherine II of Russia in Saint Petersburg . There he carried out his main work, the colossal, boldly and energetically composed equestrian statue of Peter the Great in Erz, with Marie-Anne Collot .

After returning to Paris in 1778, he became director of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture. In the last years of his life he was mostly occupied with literary work. Falconet died in Paris on January 4th, 1791 at the age of 74. His son was the artist Pierre-Étienne Falconet (1741–1791).

Literary works

• Réflexions sur la sculpture , Paris 1768
• Observations sur la statue de Marc Aurèle , Paris 1771
• Œuvres llttéraires , Paris 1781–1782 and 1787

Web links

Hermitage Petersburg

• [1] Milon of Croton, 1740s
• [2] Winter, between 1763 and 1771 marble 135 cm

The original sculpture was intended for a botanical garden and therefore Winter is shown as a young woman draping her robe over the top of some flowers. At her feet is a broken cup that contains frozen water, symbol of the cold of winter, while the cube on which she stands is adorned with constellations since the winter months.

• [3] L'amour menacant, 1750s marble. 85 cm

Louvre Paris

• [4] La Musique, marble, height 2.03 m. ; L.: 0.94 m. ; Pr.: 0.83 m.
• [5] L'amour menacant, marble, h. 85 cm
• [6] Milon de Crotone, marble, h. 0.66 m. ; L.: 0.64 m. ; Pr.: 0.51 m.
• [7] Pygmalion and Galatée, marble, h .: 0.83 m. ; L.: 0.48 m. ; Pr.: 0.38 m.
• [8] Three graces, marble and bronze, h.: 80 cm. ; L.: 38
• [9] Baigneuse, marble, H. 0.80 m. ; L.: 0.25 m. ; Pr.: 0.29 m.

Commons : Étienne Maurice Falconet  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Frank A. Kafker: Notices sur les auteurs of dix-sept volumes de "discours" de l'Encyclopédie. Recherches sur Diderot et sur l'Encyclopédie Année 1989, Volume 7, Numéro 7, p. 140