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Lot Essay
Marie-Anne Collot was a French portrait sculptor who was first trained by Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne in Paris. Sometime before 1766 she became the pupil of Etienne-Maurice Falconet who took her to St Petersburg, where he was working on The Bronze Horseman, the colossal equestrian statue of Peter the Great that become one of the symbols of the city. She was soon making lively and characterful busts of the Empress Catherine and her social circle.
In 1777 Collot married her master's son, Pierre-Etienne Falconet and then returned to Paris with him. However she later fled from her husband to The Hague to live with her father-in-law, and this is where she carved the marble busts of William V and his wife Wilhelmina of Prussia which are now in the Mauritshuis in that city.
William V, Prince of Orange-Nassau (1748-1806) was the last Stadholder of the Dutch Republic. His wife, Wilhelmina of Prussia, the Princess of Orange, was heavily involved in the politics of his reign and often used foreign supporters to influence Dutch policy. In 1795, they were forced to flee to England when the Dutch patriots returned and founded the Batavian Republic.
The busts sat in the London studio of John Singer Sargent who, like Sir Albert Richardson after him, was a Royal Academician. Sargent used the bust of William V as a prop in his 1902 portrait of Mrs. Charles Alexander and the same bust can be seen when his studio was later photographed in 1922 (Ormond, vol. II, loc. cit.).
In 1777 Collot married her master's son, Pierre-Etienne Falconet and then returned to Paris with him. However she later fled from her husband to The Hague to live with her father-in-law, and this is where she carved the marble busts of William V and his wife Wilhelmina of Prussia which are now in the Mauritshuis in that city.
William V, Prince of Orange-Nassau (1748-1806) was the last Stadholder of the Dutch Republic. His wife, Wilhelmina of Prussia, the Princess of Orange, was heavily involved in the politics of his reign and often used foreign supporters to influence Dutch policy. In 1795, they were forced to flee to England when the Dutch patriots returned and founded the Batavian Republic.
The busts sat in the London studio of John Singer Sargent who, like Sir Albert Richardson after him, was a Royal Academician. Sargent used the bust of William V as a prop in his 1902 portrait of Mrs. Charles Alexander and the same bust can be seen when his studio was later photographed in 1922 (Ormond, vol. II, loc. cit.).