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Etienne-Maurice Falconet

Born: Paris, 1 December 1716
Died: Paris, 24 January 1791
Nationality: French
Background: 

humble origins

Studies: 

with sculptor Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne (1734-44)

Career: 

1751 –model of Genius of Music (Louvre) shown at Paris Salon

1754 – member of Académie Royale

1748-64 – commissions from Bâtiments du Roi to decorate palaces and gardens belonging to Louis XVI

1757 –Marquise de Pompadour appoints Falconet director of sculpture studios at Sèvres porcelain factory; begins exhibiting regularly at Salon

1760 – contributes essay “Reflections on Sculpture” to Denis Diderot’s Encyclopedia

1761 – professor at Académie Royale

1766 –St Petersburg to work for Catherine the Great (Empress of Russia)

1781 – Oeuvres completes, Falconet’s essays and correspondence, is published

-regular correspondent with Diderot and Catherine the Great

Commissions from: 

 Bâtiments du Roi; Marquise de Pompadour; Catherine the Great

Important Artworks: 

Milo of Crotona, 1744 (Louvre, Paris)

Standing Bather, 1757 (Louvre)