Ferdinand Brokoff

Who was Ferdinand Brokoff?

Ferdinand Maxmilian Brokoff 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.

Around 1714 Ferdinand Brokoff began to cooperate with the Austrian architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach and moved to Vienna where he worked on the church of St. Charles Borromei. He was also active in Silesia, 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. Around that time 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.