Johann Georg Bendl

Johann Georg Bendl ( * before 1620, † May 27, 1680 in Prague ) was a German sculptor.

Life

Bendl is considered the leading sculptors of the Counter-Reformation and the Jesuit power of art in the second half of the 17th century. For the Czechs, he had a similar meaning as Georg Petel and Justus Glescker in southern Germany, these artists, he also owes the decisive impulses. Bendl 1651 detected in Prague's Old Town, testified from 1668 in the New Town of Prague as citizens and homeowners. 1655 he joined after an argument from along with the other sculptors from the Prague painter coal mine and established the guild of sculptors and carvers. His sister was married to the Styrian sculptor Stanislaus Gold Schneck.

Bendls work, which was significantly augmented by numerous and not always entirely convincing attributions, is somewhat uneven. What is certain is that the Marian column on the Old Town Square in Prague is his major work. This victory of the Counter- Reformation, the Bendl commissioned by Emperor Ferdinand III. had executed formed until its destruction in 1918 the urban focus of the Old Town Square.

The resulting fragments of Prague pillar testify that Bendl dominated the Baroque compositional principles. The figures of the allegorical groups of two entangle not in mannerist - rigid tension, rather they act in a remarkably dynamic and free contrast movement to each other. As Bendl established the Marian Column, he was only about twenty years old. 1670 created Bendl the Hercules Fountain in the courtyard of the Prague Castle, in 1676 the wine column at the end of the Charles Bridge.

Work

It is likely that Johann Georg Bendl almost every church in Prague adorned with one of his sculptures. Thus, for example, originate the pulpits of Prague Tyn Church from his hand, as he coined the facade of the Salvator Church with his characters. Many of his works have not survived today. Johann Georg Bendl is today but as the sculptor of the Baroque Prague.