Ferdinand Maxmilian Brokof - St Ludmila
Polychrome carvings of the two earliest protectors of Bohemia formerly decorated an unknown altar, probably consecrated to St Wenceslas. The figure of the young prince with a lion at his feet is a later carved replica of Brokof´s stone sculptures of St Vitus on Charles Bridge in Prague (1713-1714), and in Radíč near Sedlčany. In the mirror reversal it also corresponds to the wooden sculpture of St Venantius in the parish church of Petrovice near Rakovník. The compositional model for St Ludmila was the stone sculpture of the saint (1719), commissioned from the Brokof studio for the Düringer vineyard below St Apollinaris Church (now situated near the church of SS Peter and Paul at Vyšehrad) by Marek Bernard Joanelli, an Old Town councillor of Italian descent, albeit quite domesticated in Prague. Joanelli was one of the most important patrons of the High Baroque in Prague, who had also commissioned sculpture of St Adalbert for Charles Bridge, from the same Brokof studio.
date:
measurements: height 196 cm
material: limewood with later polychromy of polished chalk and gilt
inscription:
inventory number: P 240
gallery collection: Collection of Old Masters

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