Pygmalion at the Feet of His Statue as It Comes to Life
Etienne Maurice Falconet (1716-1791) · 1761
A sculptor kneels in astonishment before his own statue as it turns into a living woman. Pygmalion, the artist of Greek myth who fell in love with the ivory girl he had carved, has just seen Venus grant his prayer: the figure on the pedestal looks down at him, and a little Cupid kisses her hand to seal the miracle. Falconet plays on the paradox with a light touch. The girl's marble is meant to look warmer and softer than the marble around her, and Pygmalion's clasped hands and upturned face carry all the emotion. The group is small, less than a metre high, made for a collector's cabinet rather than a palace.
Shown at the Salon of 1763, it delighted Diderot, who praised its delicacy at length. It belonged to Francois Thiroux d'Epersenne and passed at his death in 1764 to his sister-in-law, the chemist and writer Madame Thiroux d'Arconville, remaining with the family for generations. The signature and date on the plinth, E. Falconet 1761, are probably a later addition. The group came to the Louvre by bequest in 1930.
Did You Know? Diderot loved this group so much that his review of the Salon of 1763 imagined the marble girl herself as the finest thing in the exhibition.
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