Friedrich Drake

Victoria on top of the Berlin victory column

Detail on monument for King Frederick William III of Prussia in Berlin near Brandenburg Gate. 1849

Grave of Friedrich Drake in Berlin

Friedrich Drake (June 23, 1805, Pyrmont – April 6, 1882, Berlin) was a German sculptor.

Biography

He was the son of a wood turner, and after an apprenticeship in cabinet making turned to clay modeling. His talent in clay modeling attracted the attention of Dr. Mundhenke, a relative of Christian Rauch, who in 1827 obtained for Drake admission into the sculptor's atelier. Drake traveled in Italy, where he met Thorwaldsen (1836–37) by whom he was influenced somewhat, but Rauch was the main influence. Drake was a professor of the Academy of Art at Berlin.

Works

He executed numerous statues and busts, among others busts of Lorenz Oken, Leopold von Ranke, Otto von Bismarck and Helmuth von Moltke the Elder. Other works include:

• Victoria on top of the Berlin victory column
• Eight Provinces of Prussia, represented by large allegorical figures
• Dying Warrior crowned by Victory (1833)
• Madonna and Child, bought by the Empress of Russia
• Female Vine Dresser (National Museum, Berlin)
• Philipp Melanchthon monument on the market square at Wittenberg (dedicated 1865)
• bronze equestrian statue of King William I of Prussia at Cologne. At the Paris Exhibition (1867) this monument was adjudged the most remarkable work of modern sculpture, and brought to the sculptor the great gold medal of the Legion of Honor.
• colossal bronze statue of Justus Möser, a German statesman, for Osnabrück (1836)
• marble statue of Christian Rauch (vestibule of the New Museum, Berlin)
• statue of the sculptor Schinkel (1869)
• marble group in the Schlossbrüche representing a “Warrior Crowned by Victory” (1850)

Notes

References

•  Rines, George Edwin, ed. (1920). "Drake, Friedrich". Encyclopedia Americana. 

•  "Drake, Friedrich Johann Heinrich". New International Encyclopedia. 1900. 

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Wood, James, ed. (1907). "Drake, Friedrich". The Nuttall Encyclopædia. London and New York: Frederick Warne. 

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