Marie-Anne Collot

Head of Peter the Great, study for the Bronze Horseman, c. 1768—1770; Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg. Marie-Anne Collot (1748 – 24 February 1821) was a French sculptor. She was the student and daughter-in-law of Étienne Falconet and is most well known as a portraitist, close to the philosophic and artistic circles of Diderot and Catherine the Great.

Falconet's student Marie-Anne Collot was born in Paris and started to work as a model at the age of 15 in the workshop of Jean-Baptiste II Lemoyne. He had a determining influence on her career as a portraitist. She then entered Etienne Falconet's workshop, who was a close friend of Diderot. She became Falconet's pupil and faithful friend. Her younger brother became an apprentice at the publisher's André le Breton, who was one of the four publishers of Diderot and D'Alembert's Encyclopédie.

Early sculptures Her first works consisted of terracotta busts of Falconet's friends including Diderot, the actor Préville in the role of Sganarelle in “Le médecin malgré lui” by Molière, and Prince Dimitri Alexeievich Galitzine, Russian ambassador. Many other works are now lost.

The Russian years 1766-1778 and Peter the Great's head In October 1766 Marie-Anne Collot accompanied her mentor, Etienne-Maurice Falconet, to St. Petersburg, when he was invited by Catherine the Great with a view to creating an equestrian statue of Peter the Great called “The Bronze Horseman”.

During this time she sculpted the portraits of members of the Russian Court. They marvelled at the talent of this young woman sculptor, they could remember none other, and she was only 18 years old.

Marie-Anne also created the plaster model that was selected for the Peter the Great's head for the statue, after Catherine had rejected three attempts by Falconet.

In December of the same year she presented her work to the Imperial Academy of Arts, of which she was elected an Academician, — the first and, until Julie Hagen-Schwarz, the only woman to do so, — on 20 January 1767.

She received a comfortable pension, which to her represented a fortune.

Marble busts Portrait of Catherine the Great, marble, 1769; Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg Collot sculpted a bust representing Falconet at Catherine the Great's request. This is now in the Museum of Fine Art in Nancy, France. She also requested a bust of Diderot in 1772. When Falconet saw its quality it is said that he destroyed the one he had made himself of Diderot. The bust is in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

Then followed busts of Henry IV of France, Sully, Voltaire, and possibly one of D'Alembert (now lost?). Also several of the Empress herself, the Grand Duke Paul I and his wife the Grand Duchess Natalia, as well as marble medallions of historical characters and people associated with the Russian court; Peter the Great, the Empress Elizabeth, and Lady Cathcart, the wife of Lord Cathcart, British Ambassador to Russia. She also made a superb bust of their daughter Mary. It was said that there started to be a shortage of marble in St. Petersburg.

Marriage and the return to France In 1777 Marie-Anne Collot married the painter Pierre-Etienne Falconet in St. Petersburg. He was the son of Etienne Falconet. She moved to England with him where he studied with Joshua Reynolds. In England, she continued her passion with sculpting more busts, including one of Lady Cathcart. They had the sole daughter together, Marie-Lucie, born in April 1778. The marriage was, however, unhappy and short-lived. Madame Falconet returned to France in 1778 with her baby.

Works of art In the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg Bust of Falconet Bust of Diderot Bust of Voltaire Bust of Henry IV Bust of Sully (location to be specified) Bust of Catherine the Great (probably in the Hermitage Museum) Bust of Peter the Great and several busts of Catherine the Great In the Russian Museum, St. Petersburg Portrait of Peter the Great Medallion of the Count Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov In the Marble Palace, St. Petersburg Bust of the Grand Duke Paul Bust of the Grand Duchess Natalia In the State Museum at Tsarskoye Selo, south of St. Petersburg Bust of a young Russian girl In the Louvre Museum, Paris Portrait assumed to be of Peter the Great Portrait assumed to be of Étienne Noël Damilaville Portrait assumed to be of Mary Cathcart, the daughter of the British ambassador to Russia In the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nancy, France Portrait of Etienne-Maurice Falconet Portrait of his son Pierre-Etienne Falconet In private collections Portrait of Melchior Grimm Portrait of Dimitri Alexeïevitch Galitzine Marble medallion of Lady Cathcart