Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach
Fischer von Erlach created the imperial Baroque in Vienna. The Karlskirche and the Court Library unite ancient Rome with Bernini’s Baroque, and his book on the history of architecture was the first to include buildings from all over the world.
Johann Bernhard Fischer was born in 1656 in Graz, the son of a sculptor. As a young man he travelled to Rome, where he stayed for some sixteen years working on sculpture and decoration, probably in the circle around Bernini. He also studied in Naples. Around 1687 he returned to Austria and received commissions in Vienna, where he taught architecture to the young Crown Prince Joseph. In 1696 he was ennobled and took the name von Erlach.
In Salzburg he designed several churches, among them the Kollegienkirche with its curved façade. In Vienna he made plans for Schönbrunn, a palace that was to surpass Versailles but was built in a more modest form. He designed palaces for the nobility and the Karlskirche, with columns modelled on Trajan’s Column. His last great work was the Hofbibliothek, the emperor’s library in the Hofburg, with a great ceremonial hall under a dome, completed by his son Joseph Emanuel. In 1721 he published Entwurff einer historischen Architectur, a book of engravings of buildings from antiquity, Egypt, China and the Islamic world.
Fischer von Erlach died in Vienna in 1723. He created an imperial style that united Rome, Paris and Vienna and became the model for the Austrian and South German Baroque. His book was the first comparative history of architecture and influenced the interest in exotic buildings in 18th-century gardens, including in Sweden. The Chinese Pavilion at Drottningholm and the garden pavilions of Swedish parks belong to the same wave of curiosity. His son Joseph Emanuel continued his work and completed several of his buildings.