Johann Georg Bendl

Johann-Georg Bendl (Czech pronunciation: [ˈjohan ˈɡɛorɡ ˈbɛndl̩]) or Jan Jiří Bendl ([ˈjan ˈjɪr̝iː ˈbɛndl̩]) (before 1620 - Prague, 27 May 1680) was a Baroque sculptor mainly at work in Prague. He was the son of the Bohemian sculptor Georg Bendl (born ca. 1570, in Prague, died 1656).

Statue of Saint Wenceslas

The wooden pulpit (now destroyed) of the St. Wenceslas church (of the Augustinian Order) in Prague was probably one of his earliest works. He also sculpted the pulpit in the church Kostel Panny Marie pod Řetězem in the Prague district Malá Strana.

All the most important churches in Prague eventually would order one or more statues.

He was commissioned in 1650 by Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor to produce in Prague a sculpture of the Immaculate Conception to commemorate the Peace of Westphalia ending the Thirty Years' War in 1648.

His monumental Marian column (1650) on the Old Town Square in Prague (destroyed in 1918) would set an example of Baroque style for the next decades. Remaining part can be seen at the Lapidarium of the National Museum of Prague.

He sculpted six statues of the Doctors of the Church in 1659.

The high-quality bronzed statues of St. Jerome and Mary Magdalen in the Chapel of St. Vincent Ferrer (Dominican church, Vienna) were produced by his workshop.

He decorated the façade of the St. Salvator Church in Prague with several statues : (on top) Christ with the four Evangelists, (below) Mary, the Doctors of the Church and Jesuit saints.

In 1662 he sculpted the statue of Saint Wenceslaus in the old deanery of the St. Vitus Cathedral of the Prague Castle. He added to the façade of the St. George Basilica the statues of the founders of the church : Vratislaus I of Bohemia and Mlada, founder of the convent.

In 1670 he sculpted the Hercules and Cerberus fountain for the imperial garden in the Belvedere of the same castle, setting again a stylistic example for Bohemian sculpture

His last known works are two statues of the national patron saint Saint Wenceslaus (between 1676 and 1678), one on a column near the Charles Bridge and an equestrian statue on Wenceslas Square (transferred to Vyšehrad in 1879) .

He is considered the first important Bohemian Baroque sculptor. His sculptural style was imitated by many successors.

Some of his statues can be seen at the National Gallery in the St. George Convent in the Prague Castle.

See also

References

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