03 — ARTWORK
Monument to Peter the Great
FALCONET, Étienne-Maurice · 1777 →
- MEDIUM
- Bronze
- TYPE
- Portrait
PALETTE
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- FILE
- 1203 × 1300 px · JPEG
COMMENTARY
UNDERLINED TERMS ARE DEFINED IN THE GLOSSARY.
Falconet was, with Pigalle, the favourite sculptor of Mme de Pompadour. His masterpieceA term now loosely applied to the finest work by a particular artist or to any work of art of acknowledged greatness or of preeminence in its field. Originally it meant the piece of work by which a craftsman, having finished his training, gained the rank of'master' in his guild. 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 allegoryA work of art which represents some abstract quality or idea, either by means of a single figure (personification) or by grouping objects and figures together. Renaissance allegories make frequent allusions both to both Greek and Roman legends and literature, and also to the wealth of Christian allegorical stories and symbols developed during the Middle Ages. except for the crushed snake. <p> <table align=left cellpadding=5 border=1 width=320 bgcolor="#99cccc"> <tr valign=middle><td><img src="/support/gif/listen.gif" border=0 valign=middle> Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 11 minutes):<br><a href="#" onClick="w=window.open ('/music1/19_cent/mussorgsky_godunov_coronation.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350');w.opener=this;w.focus();return true"><b>Modest Mussorgsky: Boris Godunov, Coronation Scene</b></a> </td></tr></table>
CITE THIS RECORD — BIBTEX
@online{wga-raaefde707efe11,
author = {Krén, Emil and Marx, Daniel},
title = {Monument to Peter the Great by FALCONET, Étienne-Maurice},
organization = {{Web Gallery of Art}},
date = {2026-09-13},
url = {https://beta.wga.hu/artists/falconet-tienne-maurice-rab9618ac7294cd/monument-to-peter-the-great-raaefde707efe11},
urldate = {2026-09-13},
langid = {english}
}ACCESSED 2026-09-13. REPLACE THE AUTHOR FIELD WITH THE COMMENTARY AUTHOR WHERE ONE IS NAMED.
