The Punishment of Cupid

Étienne Maurice Falconet was a French sculptor whose practice spanned baroque, rococo, and neoclassical registers, moving fluidly between monumental bronze and intimate porcelain production. He is best known for the Bronze Horseman, an equestrian monument to Peter the Great completed in 1782 for St. Petersburg, and for a prolific series of small-scale figures produced for the Royal Sévres Porcelain Manufactory. His work bridges grand historical commemoration and refined decorative craft, establishing him as a key figure in eighteenth-century European sculpture.