FALCONET, Étienne-Maurice

The Baigneuse of 1757 was only the first of Falconet’s variations on the theme. It led to a whole range of figures, now standing, now seated, sometimes accompanied by a Cupid, but of which the main purpose always remains a study of the naked female body - a body which does not vary very much in type, being always youthful and slightly immature. Above all, the purpose and the appeal of such work lay in the sense of marble turned to flesh.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 19 minutes):

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Variations on a Rococo Theme

Clocks came back into fashion in France around 1770 as a sophisticated object with theme-related decoration. Following the rococo approach, clocks featured small groups of sculpted figures, transforming the timepiece into a kind of curio. The groups might represent nymphs, allegories, or earnest subjects.

Falconet showed the model of this sculpture at the Salon of 1750.

Falconet’s discovery of the Puget’s Milo of Croton, then slowly losing its surface in the open air at Versailles, led to a piece of homage so direct in subject-matter as to be stigmatised for supposed plagiarism, the plaster model of Milo of Croton which marked his first Salon appearance in 1745.

Milo is seen pinned to the ground in a pose that goes back to Titian’s Prometheus in the Prado but here is more untidily interpreted - with the desperately flailing leg and mouth expanded in a howl of horror. Falconet is concerned with the encounter of beast and man; the two heads are juxtaposed on the same level, mirroring ferocity and suffering. The head of Milo is particularly personal, being a portrait of the sculptor himself. Milo’s reversed pose emphasizes the drama of the moment, and this is further enhanced by the splendidly fierce lion, with its shaggy body seen from the back. The opposing forces are balanced, momentarily, on the uneven rocks; a tension is held between them which looks back to Rubens and forward to Delacroix.

You can view other depictions of Milo of Croton in the Web Gallery of Art.

Falconet was, with Pigalle, the favourite sculptor of Mme de Pompadour. His masterpiece is the statue of Peter the Great commissioned by Catherine II for St. Petersburg. This work breaks away from the traditional equestrian statue: here the horse is rearing up on a rock. The sovereign, in heroic garb, is shown as a law-maker, a reformer. His face was sculpted by Marie-Anne Collot, a pupil of Falconet. The monument is theatrical but simple in conception, devoid of allegory except for the crushed snake.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 11 minutes):

Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov, Coronation Scene

Falconet was, with Pigalle, the favourite sculptor of Mme de Pompadour. His masterpiece is the statue of Peter the Great commissioned by Catherine II for St. Petersburg. This work breaks away from the traditional equestrian statue: here the horse is rearing up on a rock. The sovereign, in heroic garb, is shown as a law-maker, a reformer. His face was sculpted by Marie-Anne Collot, a pupil of Falconet. The monument is theatrical but simple in conception, devoid of allegory except for the crushed snake.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 11 minutes):

Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov, Coronation Scene

In 1766 Diderot managed to get Falconet invited to Russia, where he stayed until 1779, working on one of the most amazing monuments of the century - the equestrian statue of Peter the Great in Saint Petersburg. Perched on an enormous block of stone pointing toward the Neva like a ship’s prow, the bucking horse, reined in by the impassive rider, represents a great moment in statuary. Although the “bronze rider” was a standard equestrian figure found in every European capital, based on antique models and regularly reinvigorated since the Renaissance, Falconet’s remains the boldest example, with a power that conveys a hint of Romanticism.

The myth of Pygmalion, so popular in eighteenth-century France, was fittingly to be carved by Falconet. The result appeared at the Salon of 1763, to be enthusiastically received by everyone. The galant connotations of the theme added to its popularity. This was probably the greatest moment of public success in Falconet’s career, though it did not coincide with his finest work. The group’s popularity was connected less with its merits than with its subject, which inspired several paintings and Rousseau’s scene lyrique, among other theatrical pieces, as well as some philosophic interpretation. The myth expressed, above all, the idea of woman coming to life under a man’s hands; it had seldom been utilized by sculptors, and Falconet’s Pygmalion kneels in rapture before what amounts to a double act of creation.

Falconet’s real success came with the Salon of 1757 when he exhibited the Baigneuse and also the Cupid (both Louvre). The Cupid was Madame de Pompadour’s commission; it became, and has remained, one of the most famous pieces of eighteenth-century sculpture. Falconet tackled a subject which had already been treated notably by Bouchardon and Saly. Madame de Pompadour had asked for the same subject from Slodtz, but he had done no more than execute the drum-shaped pedestal.

Falconet’s Cupid was conceived in very different terms from the standing figures of Bouchardon and Saly. As presiding god and ‘genius loci’ Cupid is seated, cloud-borne, in deceptive, apparent repose. He is a boy, a baby, made diminutive by affection. The statue incarnates the attraction, and yet the threat, of love. In one profile Cupid is seen with hand on lip, urging discretion and secrecy - only the extended tip of his quiver hints at more. From the other side, and from the front, it is apparent that his left hand is drawing an arrow from the quiver; an ambiguity is now apparent too in the gesture of finger to lip which becomes less conspiratorial and more threatening. And finally, all Love’s ambiguity is summed up in the prominent spray of roses carved at the base of the cloud.

One of the popular motifs of the period among secondary figures in paintings was the Italian putto in the form of small child. They were everywhere, alongside heroes, in allegories, and even portraits. Putti also invaded small-scale sculpture as exemplified by Falconet’s Seated Cupid. The terracotta model of this sculpture was exhibited at the Salon of 1755. The marble version was commissioned by Madame de Pompadour and was placed in the garden of the H�tel d’�vreux (the future Palais de l’�lys�e), her residence in Paris. The original marble version is probably the one atop a column in Amsterdam, and not the one in the Louvre.

The seated, winged Cupid, called Harpocrates, raises a finger to his lips, a pose which Falconet borrowed from an ancient emblem (the little demon of silence). This image became one which characterized the age; this version of the motif was endlessly reproduced.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 4 minutes):

Francesco Gasparini: The Meddlesome Cupid, aria

Ceramics underwent unprecedented development in the mid eighteenth century in France, both as a complement to table plate and as ornamentation for interiors. Fine pieces of porcelain from China was everywhere. To reduce imports, a royal porcelain factory was founded in 1753 on the bank of the Seine at S�vres. Etienne Falconet headed the S�vres design studio until 1766. Figurines made of biscuit, or unglazed porcelain, were enormously popular and retained the twisting profile and swirl typical of rococo art.