The Teaching of Love
after 1763
12 1/2 x 9 3/8 x 10 in. (31.8 x 23.8 x 25.4 cm)
Etienne-Maurice Falconet
French
(1716 - 1791)
Object Type:
Sculpture
Medium and Support:
Soft paste porcelain
Credit Line:
Bertha Buswell Bequest
Accession Number:
1955.108
Location: Currently on view
Collection:
Buswell-Hochstetter Collection
Falconet, a leading sculptor of the reign of Louis XV, was a director of the royal ceramic works at Sèvres. His main production was the biscuit statuette, which substitutes "soft paste" for the kaolin clay of "true" porcelain. Falconet took advantage of the milky, marble-like surface to create engaging figural groups of pure form and refined rococo detail.
"The Teaching of Love" may be derived from a composition by François Boucher. Falconet has transformed the painter's design into a complex three-dimensional ensemble of delicate beauty that invites the viewer to enjoy it from multiple angles.
[Gallery label text, 2008]