Detail View: Archivision Base to Module 9: Peter the Great
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Preferred Title:
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Peter the Great
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Alternate Title:
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Bronze Horseman
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Image View:
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Looking northwest, the Senate and Synod buildings in the background
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Creator:
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Catherine II, Empress of Russia (Russian patron, 1729-1796); Etienne-Maurice Falconet (French sculptor, 1716-1791); Marie Anne Falconet (French sculptor, 1748-1821)
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Location:
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site: Saint Petersburg, Rossiya, Russia
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Location Note:
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Proezd Dekabristov, Senate Square (Decembrists Square), Senatskaya Ploschad
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GPS:
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+59.9364+30.3022
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Date:
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ca. 1766-1782 (creation)
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Cultural Context:
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Russian
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Style Period:
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Eighteenth century
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Work Type 1:
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equestrian statue
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Classification:
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sculpture
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Material:
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bronze on granite base
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Technique:
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carving (processes); casting (process)
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Measurements:
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45 ft (height, base and statue)
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Inscription:
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Petro Primo Catharina Secunda MDCCLXXXII [in Latin] and ????? ??????? ????????? ??????, ???? 1782 [in Russian]
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Subjects:
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rulers and leaders; Peter I, Emperor of Russia, 1672-1725; rearing horse; serpent; tsar
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Description:
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Through Denis Diderot, Falconet was introduced to the Empress Catherine the Great, who commissioned from him a bronze equestrian statue in honour of Peter the Great in St. Petersburg, an opportunity at last to give full scope to his talent. Initially much in favour with Catherine, Falconet saw his position gradually deteriorate, and he had to leave Russia before his work was unveiled in 1782. The originality of his conception--which combines a horse rearing on the summit of a steep rock with a hero represented as legislator rather than conqueror, eliminates any allegorical figure apart from the serpent of envy crushed beneath the horse?s hoofs, and has an inscription of only four words--makes the statue striking in its grandeur and simplicity. The head of the statue was modelled by his pupil Marie-Anne Collot [Falconet]. Pushkin wrote his famous poem "The Bronze Horseman" about the statue in 1833. The base was an immense boulder called the "thunder stone" which was calculated to be 7 x 14 x 9 meters before sc
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Image Description:
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Peter's outstretched arm points towards the Neva River in front of him (northeast).
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Collection:
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Archivision Addition Module Four
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Identifier:
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1A2-R-SU-A3
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Rights:
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© Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc.
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