Peter Falconet

{{Infobox artist | name = Pierre-Étienne Falconet | image = File:Autoportait-Pierre-Etienne-Falconet.JPG | caption = ''Self-Portrait'', c. 1770; Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy. It depicts an early example of the 18th century prototypes of the top hat. | birth_name = Pierre-Étienne Falconet | birth_date = 1741 | birth_place = Paris, France | death_date = 1791 | death_place = Paris, France | education = French Academy | known_for = Painting, drawing, sculpture | notable_works = | spouse = {{marriage|Marie-Anne Collot|1777}} | signature = }} {{short description|French portrait painter (1741–1791)}}

'''Pierre-Étienne Falconet''', also known in English sources as '''Peter Falconet''' (1741–1791), was a French portrait painter.

==Life== Falconet was born in Paris, the sole surviving son of the sculptor Etienne Maurice Falconet. His first studies were probably in the Académie Royale, but his father, who was friendly with Joshua Reynolds, sent his son to England to work under the painter's direction. He came to London about 1766, in which year he obtained a premium of twenty guineas for a painting in ''chiaroscuro''; in 1768 he gained another of twenty-six guineas for an historical composition. He was a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists, and contributed to their exhibitions from 1767 to 1773, and occasionally to the Royal Academy, mostly portraits.

Some time after 1773 Falconet returned to France, and married Marie-Anne Collot, his father's assistant, and herself a sculptor. He continued to paint, and died in Paris in 1791.

==Works== Falconet is best known in England by a set of portraits of eminent artists, drawn in profile in blacklead, with a slight tint of colour on the cheeks; these were engraved in the dotted manner by D. P. Pariset, and also by Burnet Reading.<ref>They comprise portraits of Sir William Chambers, Francis Cotes, Joshua Kirby, Francis Hayman, Jeremiah Meyer, Ozias Humphry, George Stubbs, Benjamin West, James Paine, W. W. Ryland, Paul Sandby, Sir Joshua Reynolds and others.</ref> Many of his other portraits were engraved, among them being: Horace Walpole, James Granger, Viscount Nuneham, the Earl and Countess of Marchmont and their son, Lord Polwarth, Hugh Percy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, Christian VII of Denmark, all engraved by Pariset; Elizabeth, Countess of Harcourt, Elizabeth, Countess of Ancrum, Mrs. Green and her son, and others engraved in mezzotint by Valentine Green; others were engraved by Hibbert, James Watson, John Dixon, Gabriel Smith, and J. F. Bause. There is a small engraving, from a design by Falconet, representing the interior of his father's studio. He also engraved himself some designs of François Boucher.

His daughter, Madame Jankowitz, bequeathed a collection of his works to the Museum at Nancy, comprising portraits of himself and family, pictures and drawings, besides some plaster busts by his wife, including one of Falconet himself. He decorated a Chinese temple for Lady de Grey at Wrest in Bedfordshire.

== Selected works == <gallery heights="220px" widths="220px" class="center"> Pierre Étienne Falconet (1741-1791) - The Tudor Family - NMW A 3918 - National Museum Cardiff.jpg|''The Tudor Family'', 1766; National Museum Cardiff Pierre Étienne Falconet (1741-1791) - Henrietta Speed (1728–1783) - PD0070 - Pembroke College.jpg|''Henrietta Speed'', 1768; Pembroke College, Oxford Pierre Étienne Falconet (1741-1791) - Hugh Hume (1708–1794), 3rd Earl of Marchmont, Statesman - PG 1184 - National Galleries of Scotland.jpg|''Hugh Hume-Campbell, 3rd Earl of Marchmont'', 1769; National Galleries of Scotland Collot-par-Falconet-fils (cropped).JPG|''Marie-Anne Collot'', the painter's spouse, 1773; Museum of Fine Arts of Nancy Pierre-Étienne Falconet, Catherine the Great, 1773, Hermitage Museum ГЭ-4480; from hermitagemuseum.org.jpeg|''Catherine the Great'', 1773; Hermitage Museum Catherine II by P.E.Falconet (1773, Hillwood Museum).jpg|''Catherine the Great'', 1773, likely a preparatory work to the prior; Hillwood Museum Ναταλία Αλεξέγιεβνα.jpg|''Grand Duchess Natalia Alexeievna of Russia'', 1773; Pushkin Museum<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kuznetsova |first1=Irina A. |title=Франция XVI — первой половины XIX века : собрание живописи |last2=Sharnova |first2=Elena B. |publisher=Krasnaya Ploschad' |year=2001 |isbn=5-900743-57-8 |editor-last=Pushkin Museum, Moscow |editor-link=Pushkin Museum |location=Moscow |at=p. 245; cat. no. 220 |language=ru |type=collection catalog}}</ref> Pierre-Étienne Falconet, Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich of Russia, c. 1773, Hermitage Museum ГЭ-4446; from hermitagemuseum.org.jpeg|''Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich of Russia'', c. 1773–1774; Hermitage Museum Pierre-Étienne Falconet, Grand Duchess Natalia Alekseyevna of Russia, 1774, Tretyakov Gallery 20672; from goskatalog.ru.jpg |''Grand Duchess Natalia Alexeievna of Russia'', c. 1773–1774, pendant piece to the prior work; Tretyakov Gallery<ref>{{cite book |title=Живопись XVIII века |date=2015 |publisher=Tretyakov Gallery |isbn=978-5-89580-070-6 |editor=Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow |editor-link=Tretyakov Gallery |edition=2nd |volume=2 |location=Moscow |at=pp. 260–261; cat. no. 321 |language=ru |type=collection catalog |oclc=1062345713 |series=Государственная Третьяковская галерея : каталог собрания. Живопись XVIII–XX веков}}</ref> </gallery>

==References== {{Commons category|Pierre-Étienne Falconet|Peter Falconet}} {{reflist}} *{{cite DNB|wstitle=Falconet, Peter}}

;Attribution {{DNB|wstitle=Falconet, Peter}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Falconet, Peter}} Category:1741 births Category:1791 deaths Category:18th-century French painters Category:French male painters Category:Painters from Paris Category:18th-century French male artists