French Sculpture

Question 1

Robert de Cotte

Answer 1

Antoine Coysevox from 1707 in France

• Cotte was an architect and close friend of Coysevox
• Cotte was popular due to sculpting for Louis XIV and everyone wanted XIV’s architecture
• The sculpture alludes to busts from classical antiquity
• The bust is located at the Sainte-Genevieve Library
• Cotte was also the subject of several state portraits at the time of the bust

Question 2

Mischievous Cupid

Answer 2

Etienne-Maurice Falconet from 1757 in France

• The piece is a copy of the cupid seen in Fragonard’s The Swing
• The cupid’s gesture alludes to secret dangerous liaisons involving sex
• The piece was made for Madame de Pompadour
• Currently in the Louvre in Paris
• The piece was exhibited at the Salon of 1757

Question 3

Equestrian Peter the Great

Answer 3

Etienne-Maurice Falconet and Marie-Anne Collot from 1782 in Russia

• The sculpture is cast in bronze
• Presents Emperor Peter I of Russia as a military leader
• Commissioned by Empress Catherine II the Great
• Falconet and Collot spent 12 years working on the piece
• The statue’s pedestal is the Thunder Stone, the largest stone ever moved by humans

Question 4

Chateau de Champs

Answer 4

1700 in France

• The chateau was built by Jean-Baptiste Bullet de Chamblain
• The chateau was commissioned by Paul Poisson de Bourvalais
• Madame de Pompadour later owned the building after Bourvalais
• Claude Desgots was the head of gardening for the chateau
• The chateau is located to the east of Paris

Question 5

Petit Trianon

Answer 5

1760 in France

• Built for Madame de Pompadour by Louis XIV who was the patron
• Pompadour died before the Petit was even completed
• Built by Ange-Jacques Gabriel
• Madame du Barry owned the Petit after the death of Pompadour
• At the time of Louis XVI, his wife Marie Antoinette owned the Petit