Who is depicted on the Bronze Horseman monument? History of the creation of the monument. Monument to Peter I by sculptor Etienne Falconet “Bronze Horseman” When was the Bronze Horseman built
In October 1566, Falconet, together with his 17-year-old student Marie-Anne Collot, arrived in St. Petersburg. He soon began work on creating a life-size plaster model of the monument. It lasted for 12 years and was completed by 1778. Marie-Anne Collot sculpted Peter's head. The king's face expresses will and courage, it is illuminated by deep thought. For this work, Kollo was accepted as a member of the Russian Academy of Arts. Catherine II gave her a life sentence of 10,000 livres. The snake under the horse's foot was created by Russian sculptor Fyodor Gordeev.
The base of the monument was a rock, which was given the shape of a rearing wave. According to the sculptor's plan, it was supposed to serve as a reminder that it was Peter I who managed to turn Russia into a maritime power. A granite block of suitable size was discovered 12 versts from St. Petersburg. According to legend, it was once struck by lightning, after which a crack appeared in the rock. The rock was popularly called the Thunder Stone. Its weight was about 1600 tons. The thunder stone was delivered to the capital by barge over a period of 9 months. Even during transportation, the stone was given a wave shape. On September 26, 1770, the pedestal for the future statue was installed on Senate Square.
How the bronze horseman turned into a copper one
For a long time they could not find a craftsman who would take on the casting of the bronze statue. Foreigners asked for too high a price, and Russians were frightened by its expected size. Finally, cannon master Emelyan Khailov got down to business. Together with Falcone, they selected the optimal composition of the alloy and made samples. During the 3 years that the preparatory work lasted, the sculptor perfectly mastered the technique of bronze casting.Casting of the monument began in 1774. However, it wasn't enough just to fill it. The pipe through which the hot bronze entered the mold burst. The upper part of the sculpture was hopelessly damaged. It took another 3 years to prepare for refilling. Fortunately, this time the idea was a success.
However, such a long work on the statue greatly spoiled Falcone’s relationship with Catherine II. As a result, the sculptor left Russia without waiting for his creation to be installed. He never created another sculpture. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin called the bronze statue “The Bronze Horseman” in his poem. The name became so popular that it almost became official.
Description
The Bronze Horseman monument has long been associated with the city of St. Petersburg; it is considered one of the main symbols of the city and the Neva River.
Bronze Horseman. Who is depicted on the monument?
One of the most beautiful and famous equestrian monuments in the world is dedicated to the Russian Emperor Peter I.
In 1833, the great Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin wrote the famous poem “The Bronze Horseman”, which gave the second name to the monument to Peter I on Senate Square.
The history of the creation of the monument to Peter I in St. Petersburg
The history of the creation of this grandiose monument dates back to the era of the reign of Empress Catherine II, who considered herself the successor and continuer of the ideas of Peter the Great. Wanting to perpetuate the memory of the reformer Tsar, Catherine orders the erection of a monument to Peter I. Being a fan of European ideas of enlightenment, the fathers of which she considered the great French thinkers Diderot and Voltaire, the Empress instructs Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn to turn to them for recommendations for choosing a sculptor who is capable would be to erect a monument to Great Peter. The meters recommended the sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet, with whom on September 6, 1766, a contract was signed to create an equestrian statue, for a rather small reward - 200,000 livres. To work on the monument, Etienne-Maurice Falconet, who by that time was already fifty years old, arrived with a young seventeen-year-old assistant, Marie-Anne Collot.
Etienne-Maurice Falconet. Bust by Marie-Anne Collot.
For Empress Catherine II, the monument was represented by an equestrian statue, where Peter I was supposed to be depicted as a Roman emperor with a staff in his hand - this was a generally accepted European canon, with its roots going back to the times of glorification of the rulers of Ancient Rome. Falconet saw the statue differently - dynamic and monumental, equal in its inner meaning and plastic solution to the genius of the man who created the new Russia.
The sculptor’s notes remain, where he wrote: “I will limit myself only to the statue of this hero, whom I do not interpret either as a great commander or as a winner, although he, of course, was both. The personality of the creator, legislator, benefactor of his country is much higher, and this is what needs to be shown to people. My king does not hold any rod, he extends his beneficent right hand over the country he is traveling around. He rises to the top of the rock that serves him as a pedestal - this is an emblem of the difficulties he has conquered."
Today, the Bronze Horseman monument, which is known all over the world as a symbol of St. Petersburg - the emperor with an outstretched hand on a rearing horse on a pedestal in the form of a rock, was absolutely innovative for that time and had no analogues in the world. It took a lot of work for the master to convince the main customer of the monument, Empress Catherine II, of the correctness and grandeur of his ingenious solution.
Falcone worked on the model of the equestrian statue for three years, where the master’s main problem was the plastic interpretation of the horse’s movement. A special platform was built in the sculptor’s workshop, with the same angle of inclination that should have been at the pedestal of the “Bronze Horseman”; riders on horses flew up onto it, rearing their horses. Falcone carefully observed the movements of the horses and made careful sketches. During this time, Falcone made many drawings and sculptural models of the statue and found exactly the plastic solution that was taken as the basis for the monument to Peter I.
In February 1767, at the beginning of Nevsky Prospect, on the site of the Temporary Winter Palace, a building was erected for the casting of the Bronze Horseman.
In 1780, the model of the monument was completed and on May 19, the sculpture was opened for public viewing for two weeks. Opinions in St. Petersburg were divided - some liked the equestrian statue, others were critical of the future most famous monument to Peter I (the Bronze Horseman).
An interesting fact is that the emperor’s head was sculpted by Falconet’s student Marie-Anne Collot; Catherine II liked her version of the portrait image of Peter I and the empress awarded the young sculptor a lifelong pension of 10,000 livres.
The pedestal of the “Bronze Horseman” has a separate history. According to the author of the monument to Peter I, the pedestal was supposed to be a natural rock, shaped like a wave, symbolizing Russia's access to the sea under the leadership of Peter the Great. The search for a stone monolith began immediately with the start of work on the sculptural model, and in 1768 a granite rock was found in the Lakhta region.
It is known that the peasant Semyon Grigorievich Vishnyakov reported the discovery of the granite monolith. According to a legend that existed among the local population, once upon a time a granite rock was struck by lightning and split it, hence the name “Thunder Stone”.
To study the suitability of the stone for the pedestal, engineer Count de Lascari was sent to Lakhta, who proposed using a solid granite massif for the monument, and he also made calculations for the transportation plan. The idea was to build a road in the forest from the location of the stone and move it to the bay, and then deliver it by water to the installation site.
On September 26, 1768, work began to prepare for moving the rock, for which it was first completely dug up and the broken off part was separated, which was to serve as the pedestal of the monument to Peter I (the Bronze Horseman) in St. Petersburg.
In the spring of 1769, the “Thunder Stone” was installed on a wooden platform using levers and the road was prepared and strengthened throughout the summer; when frosts hit and the ground froze, the granite monolith began to be moved towards the bay. For these purposes, a special engineering device was invented and manufactured, which was a platform resting on thirty metal balls, moving along copper-lined grooved wooden rails.
View of the Thunder Stone during its transportation in the presence of Empress Catherine II.
On November 15, 1769, the movement of the granite colossus began. While moving the rock, 48 craftsmen cut it, giving it the shape intended for the pedestal. These works were supervised by stone mason Giovanni Geronimo Rusca. The movement of the block aroused great interest and people specially came from St. Petersburg to watch this action. On January 20, 1770, Empress Catherine II herself came to Lakhta and personally observed the movement of the rock, which was moved 25 meters during her reign. By her decree, the transport operation to move the “Thunder Stone” was marked with a minted medal with the inscription “Like daring. January 20, 1770.” By February 27, the granite monolith reached the shore of the Gulf of Finland, from where it was supposed to travel by water to St. Petersburg.
On the shore side, a special dam was built across the shallow water, extending nine hundred meters into the bay. To move the rock through the water, a large flat-bottomed vessel was made - a pram, which moved with the help of the force of three hundred oarsmen. On September 23, 1770, the ship moored on the embankment near Senate Square. On October 11, the pedestal for the Bronze Horseman was installed on Senate Square.
The casting of the statue itself took place with great difficulties and failures. Due to the complexity of the work, many foundry masters refused to cast the statue, while others asked too high a price for production. As a result, Etienne-Maurice Falconet himself had to study foundry and in 1774 began casting the Bronze Horseman. According to manufacturing technology, the statue should be hollow from the inside. The whole complexity of the work lay in the fact that the thickness of the walls in the front part of the statue had to be thinner than the thickness of the walls in the rear part. According to calculations, the heavier rear part gave stability to the statue, which had three points of support.
It was possible to make the statue only from the second casting in July 1777; work on its final finishing continued for another year. By this time, relations between Empress Catherine II and Falcone had deteriorated; the crowned customer was not happy with the delay in completing work on the monument. To complete the work as quickly as possible, the empress appointed watchmaker A. Sandots to assist the sculptor, who began the final chasing of the surface of the monument.
In 1778, Etienne-Maurice Falconet left Russia without regaining the empress's favor and without waiting for the grand opening of the most important creation in his life - the monument to Peter I, which the whole world now knows as the Bronze Horseman monument in St. Petersburg. This monument was the last creation of the master; he did not create another sculpture.
The completion of all work on the monument was supervised by architect Yu.M. Felten - the pedestal was given its final shape, after installing the sculpture, under the hooves of the horse, a design designed by the architect F.G. Gordeev, sculpture of a snake.
Wanting to emphasize her commitment to Peter’s reforms, Empress Catherine II ordered the pedestal to be decorated with the inscription: “Catherine II to Peter I.”
Unveiling of the monument to Peter I
On August 7, 1782, exactly on the centenary of Peter I’s accession to the throne, it was decided to coincide with the grand opening of the monument.
Opening of the monument to Emperor Peter I.
Many citizens gathered on Senate Square, foreign officials and high-ranking associates of Her Majesty were present - everyone was awaiting the arrival of Empress Catherine II to open the monument. The monument was hidden from view by a special canvas fence. For the military parade, guards regiments were lined up under the command of Prince A.M. Golitsyn. The Empress, in ceremonial attire, arrived in a boat along the Neva, and the people greeted her with applause. Rising to the balcony of the Senate building, Empress Catherine II gave a sign, the veil covering the monument fell and the figure of Peter the Great appeared before the enthusiastic people, seated on a rearing horse, triumphantly extending his right hand and looking into the distance. The guards regiments marched in parade along the Neva embankment to the beat of drums.
On the occasion of the opening of the monument, the Empress issued a manifesto on forgiveness and the grant of life to all those sentenced to execution; prisoners who had languished in prison for more than 10 years for public and private debts were released.
A silver medal with the image of the monument was issued. Three copies of the medal were cast in gold. Catherine II did not forget about the creator of the monument; by her decree, Prince D. A. Golitsyn presented the gold and silver medals to the great sculptor in Paris.
The Bronze Horseman witnessed not only the celebrations and holidays that took place at its foot, but also the tragic events of December 14 (26), 1825 - the Decembrist uprising.
To celebrate the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, the Monument to Peter I was restored.
Nowadays, as before, this is the most visited monument in St. Petersburg. The Bronze Horseman on Senate Square often becomes the center for city celebrations and holidays.
Information
Architect
Yu. M. Felten
Sculptor
E. M. Falcone
Contacts
Address
St. Petersburg, Senate Square
How to get there?
Metro
Admiralteyskaya
How to get there
From the stations "Nevsky Prospekt", "Gostiny Dvor", "Admiralteyskaya"
Trolleybuses: 5, 22
Buses: 3, 22, 27, 10
to St. Isaac's Square, then walk to the Neva, through the Alexander Garden.
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The monument to Peter I ("The Bronze Horseman") is located in the heart of St. Petersburg - on Senate Square.
The location of the monument to Peter I was not chosen by chance. Nearby are the Admiralty founded by the Emperor and the building of the main legislative body of Tsarist Russia - the Senate. Peter I points towards Sweden, and in the center stands (the main opponent of Peter I in the Northern War), whose index finger points in the direction of Russia...
In 1710, on the site of the current Bronze Horseman, in the premises of the “drafting shed,” the very first wooden St. Isaac’s Church was located.
Catherine II insisted on placing the monument in the center of Senate Square. The author of the sculpture, Etienne-Maurice Falconet, did his own thing by installing the “Bronze Horseman” closer to the Neva.
Falconet was invited to St. Petersburg by Prince Golitsyn. Professors of the Paris Academy of Painting Diderot and Voltaire, whose taste Catherine II trusted, advised to turn to this master.
Falcone was already fifty years old. He worked at a porcelain factory, but dreamed of great and monumental art. When an invitation was received to erect a monument in Russia, Falcone, without hesitation, signed the contract on September 6, 1766. Its conditions determined: the monument to Peter should consist of “mainly an equestrian statue of colossal size.” The sculptor was offered a rather modest fee (200 thousand livres), other masters asked twice as much.
Falconet arrived in St. Petersburg with his seventeen-year-old assistant Marie-Anne Collot. Most likely, she also helped him in bed, but history is silent about this...
The vision of the monument to Peter I by the author of the sculpture was strikingly different from the desire of the empress and the majority of the Russian nobility. Catherine II expected to see Peter I with a rod or scepter in his hand, sitting on a horse like a Roman emperor. State Councilor Shtelin saw the figure of Peter surrounded by allegories of Prudence, Diligence, Justice and Victory. I. I. Betskoy, who supervised the construction of the monument, imagined it as a full-length figure, holding a commander’s staff in his hand.
Falconet was advised to direct the emperor's right eye to the Admiralty, and his left to the building of the Twelve Colleges. Diderot, who visited St. Petersburg in 1773, conceived a monument in the form of a fountain decorated with allegorical figures.
Falcone had something completely different in mind. He turned out to be stubborn and persistent. The sculptor wrote:
“I will limit myself only to the statue of this hero, whom I do not interpret either as a great commander or as a winner, although he, of course, was both. The personality of the creator, legislator, benefactor of his country is much higher, and this is what needs to be shown people. My king does not hold any rod, he extends his beneficent right hand over the country he travels around. He rises to the top of the rock that serves as his pedestal - this is the emblem of the difficulties he has conquered."
Defending the right to his opinion regarding the appearance of the monument, Falcone wrote to I. I. Betsky:
“Could you imagine that the sculptor chosen to create such a significant monument would be deprived of the ability to think and that the movements of his hands would be controlled by someone else’s head, and not his own?”
Disputes also arose around the clothes of Peter I. The sculptor wrote to Diderot:
“You know that I will not dress him in Roman style, just as I would not dress Julius Caesar or Scipio in Russian.”
Falcone worked on a life-size model of the monument for three years. Work on “The Bronze Horseman” was carried out on the site of the former temporary Winter Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna.
In 1769, passersby could watch here as a guards officer took off on a horse onto a wooden platform and reared it. This went on for several hours a day. Falcone sat at the window in front of the platform and carefully sketched what he saw. The horses for work on the monument were taken from the imperial stables: the horses Brilliant and Caprice. The sculptor chose the Russian “Oryol” breed for the monument.
Falconet's student Marie-Anne Collot sculpted the head of the Bronze Horseman. The sculptor himself took on this work three times, but each time Catherine II advised to remake the model. Marie herself proposed her sketch, which was accepted by the empress. For her work, the girl was accepted as a member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Catherine II assigned her a lifelong pension of 10,000 livres.
The snake under the horse’s foot was sculpted by the Russian sculptor F. G. Gordeev.
Preparing the life-size plaster model of the monument took twelve years; it was ready by 1778. The model was open for public viewing in the workshop on the corner of Brick Lane and Bolshaya Morskaya Street. Various opinions were expressed. The Chief Prosecutor of the Synod resolutely did not accept the project. Diderot was pleased with what he saw. Catherine II turned out to be indifferent to the model of the monument - she did not like Falcone’s arbitrariness in choosing the appearance of the monument.
On the left in the photo is a bust of Falconet Marie-Anne Collot 1773.
For a long time, no one wanted to take on the task of casting the statue. Foreign craftsmen demanded too much money, and local craftsmen were frightened by its size and complexity of work. According to the sculptor's calculations, in order to maintain the balance of the monument, the front walls of the monument had to be made very thin - no more than a centimeter. Even a specially invited foundry worker from France refused such work. He called Falcone crazy and said that there was no such example of casting in the world, that it would not succeed.
Finally, a foundry worker was found - cannon master Emelyan Khailov. Together with him, Falcone selected the alloy and made samples. In three years, the sculptor mastered casting to perfection. They began casting the Bronze Horseman in 1774.
The technology was very complex. The thickness of the front walls had to be less than the thickness of the rear ones. At the same time, the back part became heavier, which gave stability to the statue, which rested on only two fulcrum points (the snake is not a fulcrum, more on that below).
Filling alone, which began on August 25, 1775, did not solve the problem. Khailov was entrusted with her supervision. 1,350 pounds of bronze were prepared, and when all of it, molten, flowed into the mold, the mold cracked and the metal poured onto the floor. A fire started. Falcone ran out of the workshop in horror, the workers ran after him, and only Khailov remained in place. Risking his life, he wrapped the mold in his homespun and coated it with clay, picked up the spilled bronze and poured it back into the mold. The monument was saved, and the errors that arose due to the accident were later corrected when polishing the statue.
The St. Petersburg Gazette wrote about these events:
“The casting was successful except in places about two feet by two at the top. This regrettable failure occurred through an incident that was not at all foreseeable, and therefore impossible to prevent. The above-mentioned incident seemed so terrible that they were afraid that the entire building would go up in flames, but, Therefore, the whole business would not have failed. Khailov remained motionless and carried the molten metal into the mold, without losing his courage in the least in the face of the danger to his life. Touched by such courage, Falconet, at the end of the matter, rushed to him and kissed him with all his heart and gave him a gift from himself money."
However, as a result of the accident, numerous large defects (underfilling, adhesions) were formed in the horse’s head and the figure of the rider above the waist.
A bold plan was developed to save the statue. It was decided to cut off the defective part of the statue and refill it, building a new form directly onto the surviving parts of the monument. Using pieces of plaster mold, a wax model of the top of the casting was obtained, which was a continuation of the wall of the previously cast part of the statue.
The second filling was carried out in November 1777, and it was a complete success. In memory of this unique operation, on one of the folds of Peter I’s cloak, the sculptor left the inscription “Modeled and cast by Etienne Falconet, Parisian 1778.” Not a word about Khailov.
According to the sculptor’s plan, the base of the monument is a natural rock in the shape of a wave. The shape of the wave serves as a reminder that it was Peter I who led Russia to the sea. The Academy of Arts began searching for the monolith stone when the model of the monument was not yet ready. A stone was needed whose height would be 11.2 meters.
The granite monolith was found in the Lakhta region, twelve miles from St. Petersburg.
Once upon a time, according to local legends, lightning struck the rock, forming a crack in it. Among the locals, the rock was called "Thunder Stone".
That’s what they later began to call the piece of rock when they installed it on the banks of the Neva for the famous monument. There were rumors that in the old days there was a temple on it. And sacrifices were made.
The initial weight of the monolith is about 2000 tons. Catherine II announced a reward of 7,000 rubles to the one who comes up with the most effective way to deliver the rock to Senate Square. From many projects, the method proposed by a certain Carbury was chosen. There were rumors that he had bought this project from some Russian merchant.
A clearing was cut from the location of the stone to the shore of the bay and the soil was strengthened. The rock was freed from excess layers, and it immediately became lighter by 600 tons. The thunder-stone was hoisted with levers onto a wooden platform resting on copper balls. These balls moved on grooved wooden rails lined with copper. The clearing was winding. Work on transporting the rock continued in both cold and hot weather. Hundreds of people worked. Many St. Petersburg residents came to watch this action. Some of the observers collected fragments of stone and used them to make cane knobs or cufflinks. In honor of the extraordinary transport operation, Catherine II ordered the minting of a medal with the inscription “Like daring. January 20, 1770.”
The poet Vasily Rubin wrote in the same year:
The Russian Mountain, not made by hands here, Hearing the voice of God from the lips of Catherine, Came to the city of Petrov through the Neva abyss. And she fell under the feet of the Great Peter.
By the time the monument to Peter I was erected, the relationship between the sculptor and the imperial court had completely deteriorated. It got to the point that Falcone was credited with only a technical attitude towards the monument.
Portrait of Marie-Anne Collot
The offended master did not wait for the opening of the monument; in September 1778, together with Marie-Anne Collot, he left for Paris.
And the monument, weighing about 10 tons, still had to be erected...
The installation of the Bronze Horseman on the pedestal was supervised by the architect F. G. Gordeev.
The grand opening of the monument to Peter I took place on August 7, 1782 (old style). The sculpture was hidden from the eyes of observers by a canvas fence depicting mountain landscapes.
It had been raining since the morning, but it did not stop a significant number of people from gathering on Senate Square. By noon the clouds had cleared. The guards entered the square. The military parade was led by Prince A. M. Golitsyn. At four o'clock, Empress Catherine II herself arrived on the boat. She climbed onto the balcony of the Senate building in a crown and purple and gave a sign for the opening of the monument. The fence fell, and to the beat of drums the regiments moved along the Neva embankment.
By order of Catherine II, the following is inscribed on the pedestal: “Catherine II to Peter I.” Thus, the Empress emphasized her commitment to Peter's reforms. Immediately after the appearance of the Bronze Horseman on Senate Square, the square was named Petrovskaya.
A. S. Pushkin called the sculpture “The Bronze Horseman” in his poem of the same name. This expression has become so popular that it has become almost official. And the monument to Peter I itself became one of the symbols of St. Petersburg.
The weight of the "Bronze Horseman" is 8 tons, the height is more than 5 meters.
Neither the wind nor the terrible floods could defeat the monument.
Legends
One evening, Pavel, accompanied by his friend Prince Kurakin, walked through the streets of St. Petersburg. Suddenly a man appeared ahead, wrapped in a wide cloak. It seemed that he was waiting for the travelers and, when they approached, he walked next to them. Pavel shuddered and turned to Kurakin: “Someone is walking next to us.” However, he did not see anyone and tried to convince the Grand Duke of this. Suddenly the ghost spoke: “Paul! Poor Pavel! I am the one who takes part in you.” Then the ghost walked ahead of the travelers, as if leading them along. Approaching the middle of the square, he indicated the place for the future monument. “Goodbye, Pavel,” said the ghost, “you will see me here again.” And when, leaving, he raised his hat, Pavel saw Peter’s face with horror.
The legend is believed to date back to the memoirs of Baroness von Oberkirch, who details the circumstances under which Paul himself publicly told the story. Bearing in mind the high reliability of the memoirs, based on many years of diary entries, and the friendship between the Baroness and Maria Feodorovna, Paul’s wife, most likely the source of the legend is indeed the future sovereign himself...
There is another legend. During the War of 1812, when the threat of Napoleonic invasion was real, Alexander I decided to transport the monument to Peter to Vologda. A certain captain Baturin had a strange dream: as if the Bronze Horseman was moving off the pedestal and galloping towards Kamenny Island, where Emperor Alexander I was at that time. “Young man, what have you brought my Russia to?” Peter tells him. “But until then, as long as I stand in my place, my city has nothing to fear." Then the horseman, announcing the city with a “heavy ringing gallop,” returned to Senate Square. According to legend, the dream of the unknown captain was brought to the attention of the emperor, as a result of which the statue of Peter the Great remained in St. Petersburg.
As you know, the boot of a Napoleonic soldier, like a fascist one, did not touch the St. Petersburg pavements.
The famous mystic and spirit seer of the 20th century, Daniil Andreev, in “The Rose of the World,” described one of the hellish worlds. There he reports that in infernal Petersburg, the torch in the hand of the Bronze Horseman is the only source of light, while Peter is sitting not on a horse, but on a terrible dragon...
During the siege of Leningrad, the Bronze Horseman was covered with bags of earth and sand, lined with logs and boards.
When after the war the monument was freed from boards and bags, the Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union appeared on Peter’s chest. Someone drew it with chalk...
Restorations of the monument took place in 1909 and 1976. During the last of them, the sculpture was studied using gamma rays. To do this, the space around the monument was fenced off with sandbags and concrete blocks. The cobalt gun was controlled from a nearby bus. Thanks to this research, it turned out that the frame of the monument can serve for many years to come. Inside the figure was a capsule with a note about the restoration and its participants, a newspaper dated September 3, 1976.
Etienne-Maurice Falconet conceived The Bronze Horseman without a fence. But it was still created and has not survived to this day. “Thanks to” the vandals who left their autographs on the thunder stone and the sculpture itself, the idea of restoring the fence was realized.
The snake that the horse tramples and the tail serve only to separate the air currents and reduce the windage of the monument.
2. Peter’s pupils are made in the shape of hearts. Peter looks at the city with loving eyes. So Falcone conveyed to his descendants the news of Peter’s love for his brainchild - St. Petersburg.
3. Thanks to Pushkin and his poem, the monument is called “Copper”, but it is not made of copper, but of bronze (even though bronze consists mostly of copper).
4. The monument was depicted on the money of Yudenich, who went to Petrograd, but did not reach it.
The monument is covered in myths and legends. It is also in foreign collections. This is how the Japanese imagined it.
Illustration from the 11th scroll "Kankai Ibun". The monument was drawn by a Japanese artist from the words of sailors)))
Previously, submariner graduates of VVMIOLU named after. F.E. Dzerzhinsky (located in the Admiralty building) there was a tradition, on the night before release, to rub the eggs of Peter’s horse. After that they sparkled brightly, for almost half a year))) now the school has been moved and the tradition has died...
They wash it periodically... with soap)))
Late in the evening the monument is no less mysterious and beautiful...
Info and part of the photo (C) Internet. Basis: site "Legends of St. Petersburg", Wikipedia,
The Bronze Horseman, the most famous monument to Peter I, was erected in 1782 on Senate Square in St. Petersburg by order of Catherine II. Let's remember the history of one of the most majestic monuments of the northern capital with Natalya Letnikova.
1. This is not the first monument to the great autocrat. During the lifetime of the reformer Tsar Bartolomeo Rastrelli created “his” Peter. But this monument took its place at the Mikhailovsky Castle only in 1800.
2. Senate Square was intended for another monument. Parliament wanted to immortalize the current empress in bronze. Catherine II observed politeness - first a great reformer! The equestrian monument to Peter I should have stood by the 100th anniversary of his accession to the throne.
Monument to Peter I at Mikhailovsky Castle
3. They searched for the sculptor together with Diderot and Voltaire. The choice fell on the Frenchman Etienne Maurice Falconet. The main artist of the Sèvres porcelain manufactory, the creator of “The Threatening Cupid” and a master of Rococo, he dreamed of large-scale art. The dream came true in distant Russia.
EM. Falconet "Threatening Cupid"
4. Peter in the image of Caesar on a horse with a staff and scepter? This is how Catherine saw him. Or Diderot's version - a fountain with allegorical figures? Falcone ventured to argue. As a result, the contract only stated that the monument should consist “mainly of an equestrian statue of colossal size.”
5. The sculptor was not given the face of Peter. Falconet sculpted three times. His apprentice Marie-Anne Collot managed it overnight, using a lifetime plaster mask removed by Rastrelli Sr. The Empress approved of Collo's work, and Falcone acknowledged the co-authorship of his twenty-year-old student.
6. They looked for a horse for the autocrat in the stables of Count Orlov. Persian blood, like Lisette, the favorite horse of Peter I. They chose Caprice and Diamond. From time to time, models with a guards officer in the saddle reared up, posing for the sculptor.
7. It was more difficult with the pedestal. I had to advertise in the newspaper. The peasant Semyon Vishnyakov reported about a giant boulder in the vicinity of Lakhta. The “Thunder Stone”, weighing about 2 thousand tons, was delivered to the capital in ten months, hewn down to the required size along the way.
"Thunder Stone"
8. The operation received the attention of all of Europe and the imperial medal “Like Daring.” Before the Gulf of Finland, the boulder was moved on a log platform along chutes with bronze balls. The further journey lay across the bay on a special vessel.
9. A rearing horse and a snake at the foot. The defeated snake is like Peter’s victory over opponents of his reforms and enemies on the battlefield. The work of a Russian sculptor, the son of a simple cattleman Fyodor Gordeev. The practical side of the symbol, the snake, became the third fulcrum of the 10-meter statue.
Falconet "Monument to Peter I"
Prince Golitsyn in France presented Falconet with gold and silver medals from Catherine II. This was a clear recognition of his talent, which the queen could not appreciate earlier. They say that at this Falcone, who spent 15 years of his life on his main sculpture, began to cry.
On one of the folds of the bronze cloak of Peter I there is an inscription: “Sculpted and cast by Etienne Falconet, a Parisian in 1778.”
His relationship with Catherine II while working on the monument was not the best. Shortly before the death of the outstanding sculptor, a kind of reconciliation took place between him and Catherine II, who three times rejected the project of a monument to Peter I (in particular, the project of the emperor’s head).
Etienne Falconet, French sculptor, born December 1, 1716. He was the son of a simple carpenter. Etienne received his first skills in sculpture in the workshop of his uncle Nicolas Guillaume, a marble master.
He worked under the guidance of the court portrait sculptor Jean Baptiste Lemoine, while simultaneously studying the works of famous French masters in the Versailles park. In 1744 he was admitted to the Paris Academy for the group “Milon of Croton” presented at the competition; in 1754, for the performance of this group in marble, he received the title of academician. In this early work, as in a number of other works, Falconet retained the dynamics and theatricality characteristic of Baroque plastic art, while at the same time gravitating toward classicist clarity of form.
Falcone "Milon of Croton"
Falcone's composition "Milon of Croton" exists in two versions: 1744 and 1754. The ancient hero Milo challenged the gods, declaring that he could split a tree with his hands. But the vain hero’s hand got stuck in a crack in the trunk, and Milo, “chained” to the tree, was torn to pieces by a lion. In the complex pose of the hero, in his face distorted with horror, genuine emotional tension is felt.
Falconet took part in the decoration of the chapels of the Crucifixion and the Holy Virgin in the Parisian Church of St. Roch.
In the middle of the 18th century, the fashion for Rococo art prevailed at the court of Louis XV, and Falconet, commissioned by Madame de Pompadour, the favorite of Louis XV, created real masterpieces of sculptural art, full of grace, tenderness and spirituality.
Falconet "Threatening Cupid"
Falconet "Threatening Cupid"
In the second half of the 1750s, he worked at the Sevres manufactory, first making models based on the drawings of the artist Boucher; later he embarked on the path of independent creativity. His marble statue “Threatening Cupid” dates back to this period. Ancient Cupid was a cheerful, flirtatious, and sometimes cruel god of love. Flying everywhere with his bow and quiver filled with arrows, he struck the hearts of people, bringing them joy and happiness, and sometimes cruel torments of love.
In Falcone, Cupid is a playful child, cheerful and crafty. The sculptor turned cold marble into a figure filled with life and warmth. The soft tilt of his head, a sly look, a sly smile, a finger placed on his lips - all this fills the composition with life. The charm of a plump child's body, its natural childish grace, its wings, the delicate feathers of which seem to flutter, are very expressively conveyed. This work speaks of the high skill of the sculptor, who created the god of love in the image of a child, captivating with his sincerity.
Falcone "Flora"
Falcone "Flora"
The whole appearance of the girl is the embodiment of youth, some special purity and feminine charm.
“Only nature, living, spiritual, passionate, should be embodied by a sculptor in marble, bronze or stone,” these words have always been Falcone’s motto.
Falconet “Winter”
Falconet "Winter"
The master’s true masterpiece was the statue “Winter” (begun by order of Madame de Pompadour in the mid-1750s and completed in 1771), which was enthusiastically described by the sculptor’s friend Denis Diderot. The image of a sitting girl, personifying winter and covering the flowers at her feet with smoothly falling folds of her robe, like a snow cover, is full of quiet, dreamy sadness. An allusion to winter is the signs of the zodiac depicted on the sides of the pedestal, and the bowl at her feet, cracked by frozen water. “This may be the best thing I could do, and I dare to think that it is good,” Falcone wrote.
Falcone "Monument to Peter I"
Falconet "Monument to Peter I"
And right in the dark heights
Above the fenced rock
Idol with outstretched hand
Sat on a bronze horse.
(A.S. Pushkin).
All his life Falcone dreamed of creating a monumental work, and he managed to realize this dream in Russia. On the advice of Diderot, Empress Catherine II commissioned the sculptor to create an equestrian monument to Peter I. The wax sketch was made in Paris, and after the master arrived in Russia in 1766, work began on a plaster model the size of the statue.
He abandoned the canonized image of the victorious emperor, the Roman Caesar, surrounded by allegorical figures. He sought to embody the image of a creator, legislator, transformer, as he himself wrote in a letter to Diderot: “My monument will be simple. There will be no Barbarism, no Love of nations, no personification of the people. I will limit myself only to the statue of this hero, whom I do not interpret either as a great commander or as a winner, although he, of course, was both. The personality of the Creator, Legislator, Benefactor of one’s country is much higher, and this is what needs to be shown to people" As an allegory, he left only a snake, which has not only a semantic, but also a compositional, constructive meaning: strengthening the statue.
This monument has become a plastic image of an entire era. The rearing horse is humbled by the firm hand of the mighty rider. The horseman's head is also a completely new image in the iconography of Peter - it is a triumph of a clear mind and effective will.
The so-called “Thunder Stone” was used as a pedestal, which was pointed out by the peasant Semyon Grigorievich Vishnyakov during a search in the vicinity of St. Petersburg (8-12 km). Initially the stone weighed about 2 thousand tons.
This monument is better known as “The Bronze Horseman,” although Pushkin’s poem was written much later, in 1833, and the monument is cast in bronze. It was cast by artillery foundry maker Emelyan Khailov, while the foundry maker brought from France refused this work due to its particular complexity: the sculpture had walls of different thicknesses - the front part had to be thinner, and the back part thicker, so that the rearing horse had greater stability.
The head of the bronze emperor was cast according to the design of Falconet's student and daughter-in-law Marie-Anna Collot.
The monument was opened on August 7, 1782 - on the centenary of Peter’s accession to the throne. Falconet did not wait for the opening of the monument; he left for Paris in 1778. The work on completing the monument was entrusted to Yuri Matveevich (Georg Friedrich) Felten, an architect who worked with the then famous Rastrelli. Soon, Falcone suffered a stroke, which led to paralysis, which confined the artist to bed for eight years. He never recovered from this illness. On January 24, 1791, the life of the remarkable artist was cut short.
Falcone "Monument to Peter I" (fragment)
The snake under the horse’s hooves, according to Falconet’s plan, plays the role of additional support and symbolizes “defeated envy,” made by the Russian sculptor Fyodor Gordeevich Gordeev.
The pedestal of the monument was crowned with the queen’s inscription: "Catherine II to Peter I".
“St. Petersburg Gazette” (August 1782) wrote about the opening of the monument: “At 2 o’clock the guards regiments began to gather... The formation of troops extended to 15,000... At the site of the monument, a wild stone mountain, 5 in height, and surrounded by at 32 fathoms... The opening signal was given by a rocket... Suddenly Peter on horseback appeared to the astonished eyes of everyone, as if from the depths of the bowels he had suddenly rode onto the surface of a huge stone... He was saluted with a gun and dodging banners, and the ships on the Neva were saluted by raising flags and firing from both fortresses and rapid fire.”
In terms of the boldness of its compositional and technical solutions, the rigor and laconicism of its forms, the monument to Peter is one of the best works of monumental art of that time. Until now, Falcone is primarily known as the author of this monument, which has few equals in world sculpture.