b Paris, 1 Dec 1716;
d Paris, 24 Jan 1791.
French sculptor, designer and writer. He was one of the foremost French sculptors of the mid-18th century and is best known for his small-scale marble sculptures on gallant and allegorical themes, as well as for his widely reproduced models for the porcelain factory at Sèvres. From 1766 to 1778, however, he lived in Russia, and his most interesting work is the monumental bronze equestrian statue of Peter the Great that he designed for St Petersburg. Falconet was an autodidact of fiercely independent and moralistic spirit; he wrote a number of essays on the theory of art and left notable correspondences with the philosopher Denis Diderot and with Catherine the Great of Russia. He was made a professor at the Académie Royale in 1761. His son Pierre-Etienne Falconet (1741–91) was a minor draughtsman and engraver, whose most notable achievement was the illustrating of his father’s article on sculpture for the Encyclopédie of Diderot.

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