Falconet, Etienne Maurice (1716-1791),
French 18th-century sculptor. His early works, such as Bather (1757, Louvre, Paris), combine classical subject matter with delicate rococo execution. From 1757 to 1766, as head of the Sèvres porcelain factory, he furnished numerous models—children, nudes, lovers, dancers—for manufacture in porcelain in an intimate, dainty style. In his important later work, such as the colossal equestrian statue Peter the Great (1778, Saint Petersburg), he adopted an innovative style—strong, animated, and passionate—that prefigured 19th-century romanticism.