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Ferdinand Maxmilian Brokoff | |
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 Portrait of Ferdinand Brokoff byJan Vilímek | |
| Born | (1688-09-12)12 September 1688 |
| Died | 8 March 1731(1731-03-08) (aged 42) Prague, Bohemia |
| Known for | Sculpture |
| Notable work | Several statues onCharles Bridge inPrague |
| Movement | Baroque |
Ferdinand Maxmilian Brokoff (Czech:Ferdinand Maxmilián Brokoff; 12 September 1688 – 8 March 1731) was asculptor and carver of theBaroque era fromBohemia.
Brokoff was born in Červený Hrádek in theKingdom of Bohemia (today part ofJirkov in theCzech Republic), the second son of Elisabeth andJan Brokoff.[1] Ferdinand Brokoff's work is often compared with the work ofMatthias Braun.[citation needed] Initially he mostly helped his father, but from 1708 he worked independently and two years later, at the age of 22, he became known for his work on severalstatues onCharles Bridge in Prague, including the statuary ofSt. Adalbert, the statue ofSt. Gaetano, the sculpture group ofFrancis Borgia, the statues ofSt. Ignatius andFrancis Xaverius, and the sculpture group ofSaints John of Matha, Felix of Valois and Ivan which depicts in its lower section a dungeon in which emaciated Christians are guarded by a dog and a figure in Turkish costume.
Around 1714 Ferdinand Brokoff began working with the Austrian architectJohann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and moved toVienna (while still taking commissions from Prague) where he worked on the church of St. Charles Borromei. He was also active inSilesia (Wrocław), but had to return to Prague soon due to progressingtuberculosis. Nevertheless, he continued to sculpt in Prague and made some significant pieces during the 1720s, such as the monumental statuary and pillar atHradčany Square in 1726. In 1722 he was also commissioned to create 13 pieces of theCalvary 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 assistants. He died inPrague.
