Georg Rafael Donner (24 May 1693 – 15 February 1741) was one of the most prolific

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

sculptors Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable ...

of the 18th century. His style was

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

with some pseudo-ancient additions. He educated many

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sculptors of his era, including his son Matthäus Donner. Donner was born in

Essling Essling
Essling entry in the Viennese government's history wiki (German) () is a neighbourhood ...

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. 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 Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

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 The Episcopal Summer Palace (, ) is the former residence of the Archbishop of Esztergom. The palace was originally in the 17th century a Renaissance summer seat for the archbishops of Esztergom (since Esztergom had been occupied by the Ottoman Em ...

, at that time just outside Pozsony.Bratislavske Noviny 5/2011, page 7 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

, and contains much of Donner's work.

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18th-century Austrian sculptors 18th-century Austrian male artists Austrian Baroque sculptors Austrian male sculptors People from Donaustadt 1693 births 1741 deaths {{Austria-sculptor-stub