Georg Rafael Donner, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetGeorg Rafael Donner
austrian sculptor
Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Essling, Vienna, Austria
About Georg Rafael Donner
- Georg Rafael Donner (24 May 1693 – 15 February 1741) was one of the most prolific Austrian sculptors of the 18th century.
- His style was baroque with some pseudo-ancient additions.
- He educated many German sculptors of his era, including his son Matthäus Donner.Donner was born in Essling, Vienna.
- His work was inspired by nature and by antique sculpture which was deposited in the Vienna's academy.
- One of Donner's most famous works is Donnersteig in Mirabel Castle, Salzburg (1725–1727), for which he sculpted life-size marble figures.
- From 1728 he worked in Pozsony at the court of count-bishop Emeric (or Imre) Esterházy, where he sculpted a gravestone for Bishop Esterházy and a horse monument of St.
- Martin.
- For almost 10 years he had his studio in the garden of the Summer Archbishop's Palace, at that time just outside Pozsony.
- In Vienna he created two fountains: Fountain of Austria's rivers (1737–1739) and the source with the sculptures of Perzei and Andromeda in front of the City Hall (1739).
- One of his last works is the Pieta at the cathedral in Gurk (1741).
- He died in Vienna. Georg Rafael Donner was recently selected as the main motif of the Austrian gold euro commemorative coin: The sculpture coin was issued on 13 November 2002.
- The obverse has a portrait of Donner, with the Palace of the Lower Belvedere in the background.
- This palace is currently the museum of baroque art in Vienna, and contains much of Donner’s work.
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