Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach
| Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach |
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|---|---|
Portrait by Ádám Mányoki, c. 1723
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| Born |
20 July 1656 Graz |
| Died | 5 April 1723 (aged 66) Vienna |
| Nationality | Austrian |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Buildings | |
Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (20 July 1656 – 5 April 1723) was an Austrian architect, sculptor, and architectural historian whose Baroque architecture profoundly influenced and shaped the tastes of the Habsburg Empire. His influential book A Plan of Civil and Historical Architecture (1721) was one of the first and most popular comparative studies of world architecture. His major works include Schönbrunn Palace, Karlskirche, and the Austrian National Library in Vienna, and Schloss Klessheim, Holy Trinity Church, and the Collegiate Church in Salzburg.
Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach was born in Graz and baptized in the parish church of Heiligen Blut on 20 July 1656. His parents came from notable Graz families: his father was a provincial sculptor and artisan, his grandfather was a bookseller, and his mother was the daughter of a joiner and married to a sculptor prior to her second marriage. Raised in the tradition of Styrian craftsmanship in a city of significant architectural achievements, Johann received his early training as a sculptor in the workshop of his father, Johann Baptist Fischer, who contributed to the interior sculptural decorations of the Landhaus and Eggenberg Palace in Graz. During the seventeenth century, the Princes of Eggenberg had emerged as important patrons of the arts in Styria; through their patronage of Johann Baptist, they arranged for his talented son to travel to Italy and work in the flourishing artistic environment of the late Italian Baroque.
In 1671, at the age of sixteen, Johann moved to Rome and joined the workshop of his fellow Austrian Johann Paul Schor and of the great Gian Lorenzo Bernini, who gave him ample opportunities to study both ancient and modern sculpture and architecture. By 1685, he had followed Schor to Naples, where he was reported to have amassed a considerable fortune serving the Spanish viceroy.
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