Marie-Anne Collot

Sculptor: Collot, Marie-Anne (1748 - 24th February 1821 )

Background : Marie-Anne Collot was born in Paris France in 1748.

Notes of Interest : Marie Anne Collot was not only Etienne Maurice Falconet's pupil but she was also his "stepdaughter" and later daughter-in-law. At one stage, when Falconet saw a bust Collot had created, he took to his own with a hammer and smashed it to bits in front of her. Both Collot and Falconet were pupils of sculptor Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne. She was an exceptionally good at marble cutting. Falconet was so impressed with her work he gave her the role of creating the head of Peter the Great commissioned by Catherine the Great in 1766. Collot used the death mask of the Tsar made by Rastrelli for inspiration. Collot would spend 12 years in Russia. In 1777 she married Falconet's son, Pierre Etienne.

Scandal Alert : Gossip circulated of a sexual relationship between Etienne Maurice Falconet and Collot, as they were constantly working together, but those rumors were never substantiated. After marrying Etienne's son she returned to Paris but would later bring legal action against him for abusive behavior and remained estranged from him until his death. After leaving her husband she went to The Hague in the Netherlands to be with Etienne. She and Etienne moved back to Paris in 1782 after he had a stroke and she nursed him until his death in 1791.

List of works by Marie-Anne Collot

The Bronze Horseman (St Petersburg, Russia)