Ignaz(-Johann) Bendl (Czech: Ignác Bendl; ? – ) was a

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

n painter, sculptor, medalist, and ivory engraver, who worked mainly in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

. There is almost nothing known about his life. According to Grove's ''Dictionary of Art'', he was born, perhaps as the son of Johann-Georg Bendl, in Pfarrkirchen. There are two towns called Pfarrkirchen in

Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg (state), Salzbur ...

, therefore it is undecided which one it might have been. There is no date of birth. He died circa 1730, but again no mention where. Remaining works: * twelve ivory reliefs (only one signed by him) of classical gods and heroes (1684) * twelve relief medallions with sybils's heads. Both the reliefs and medallions are on display in the

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien ( "Vienna Museum of art history, Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts, Vienna") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, i ...

, Vienna. * the altarpiece ''Franz von Paula''; Paulanerkirche, Vienna * ivory medallion ''Triumphal arch designed for the coronation of emperor Joseph II'';

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

, London (1690) *He made the sculptural group of mythological figures ( Neptune, Vulcan, Ceres and Mercury) for a fountain, following the style of

Bernini Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, ; ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 1598 – 28 November 1680) was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prominently the leading sculptor ...

in 1693–1694. They were later transferred into the middle of the Bishop's Court of the Moravian Museum, Brno, from the Square of the Liberty in 1858. Ignaz Bendl also made an engraving of this fountain. *He made equally an engraving (1697) of the Parnassus fountain on the Zelný Market, Brno. This is a baroque fountain decorated with many allegorical figures, animals and dragons. It was built according to a design made by

Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (20 July 1656 – 5 April 1723) was an Austrian architect, sculptor, engraver, and architectural historian whose Baroque architecture profoundly influenced and shaped the tastes of the Habsburg Empire. His inf ...

. This engraving may be an indication that Bendl sculpted these figures. * His best known works are the six lower reliefs on the Baroque Plague Column on the

Graben In geology, a graben () is a depression (geology), depressed block of the Crust (geology), crust of a planet or moon, bordered by parallel normal faults. Etymology ''Graben'' is a loan word from German language, German, meaning 'ditch' or 't ...

in Vienna. * A number of etchings of designs for ceiling ornaments (1699) * Etchings of religious and mythological themes: ''Scenes of Antique Legends'' (1700) * Plates of applied arts design in a proto-

Rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

style, now in the Museum für angewandte Kunst, Vienna.

References

* Turner J. -

Grove Dictionary of Art ''Grove Art Online'' is the online edition of ''The Dictionary of Art'', often referred to as the ''Grove Dictionary of Art'', and part of Oxford Art Online, an internet gateway to online art reference publications of Oxford University Press, ...

; Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1990; * Benezit E. - Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs; Librairie Gründ, Paris, 1976; (in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bendl, Ignaz 18th-century Austrian sculptors Austrian male sculptors 18th-century sculptors from Bohemia Czech male sculptors 18th-century Czech engravers 18th-century Austrian engravers 18th-century engravers from the Holy Roman Empire