Ferdinand Brokoff

Ferdinand Brokoff

Portrait of Ferdinand Brokoff by Jan Vilímek.
Born Ferdinand Maxmilian Brokoff
12 September 1688
Červený Hrádek near Chomutov, Kingdom of Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic)
Died 8 March 1731 (aged 42)
Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic)
Known for Sculpture
Notable work Several statues on Charles Bridge in Prague
Movement Baroque

Ferdinand Maxmilian Brokoff (Czech: Ferdinand Maxmilián Brokoff, 12 September 1688 - 8 March 1731) was a sculptor and carver of the Baroque era.

He was born in Červený Hrádek near Chomutov, Bohemia, the second son of Elisabeth and Jan Brokoff, and soon his talent surpassed that of his older brother, Michael Brokoff, as well as his father. Ferdinand Brokoff's work is often equalized in importance with the work of Matthias Braun. In the beginning he mostly helped his father but from 1708 he worked independently and two years later, in the age of 22, he acquired a reputation for his work on several statues on the Charles Bridge in Prague (the statuary of St. Adalbert, the statue of St. Gaetano, the sculpture group of Francis Borgia, the statues of St. Ignatius and Francis Xaverius, statuary of Saints John of Matha, Felix of Valois and Ivo including the famous statue of Turk, etc.).

Around 1714 Ferdinand Brokoff began to cooperate with the Austrian architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and moved to Vienna (while still working for Prague commissions, too) where he worked on the church of St. Charles Borromei. He was also active in Silesia (Wrocław), but had to come back to Prague soon, owing to progressing tuberculosis. Nevertheless, he continued to sculpt in Prague and made some significant pieces during the 1720s, such as the monumental statuary and pillar at the Hradčany square (Hradčanské náměstí, 1726). Around that time (1722) he was also supposed to create 13 pieces of the Calvary to put in the niches of the New Castle Stairway, a project that was never realized.

Towards the end of his life, the illness gradually prevented him from working alone, thus he only created the designs and models and had them realized by his younger cooperators. He died in Prague.

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