Fischer von Erlach, Johann Bernhard

Fischer von Erlach, Johann Bernhard (yō`hän bĕrn`härt fĭsh`ər fən ēr`läkh), 1656–1723, the leading Austrian baroque architect. After studying in Rome he returned to Vienna. In 1705 he was appointed imperial court architect. His early works, exuberant examples of the high baroque, include his redecoration of the mausoleum of Ferdinand II at Graz and the Hercules fountain in Brünn. In the Dreifaltigkeitssäule monument in Vienna he designed masses of stone to give the appearance of billows of cloud and smoke. Among his major buildings in Salzburg are the Church of the Trinity (1694–1710) and the University Church (1694–1707) and in Vienna the Hofbibliothek or Imperial Library (1722), the Imperial Palace Schönbrunn (1696–1711), and the Karlskirche or Church of San Carlo Borromeo (1715–37). He wrote A Plan of Civil and Historical Architecture (tr. 1973).

Bibliography

See biography by H. Aurenhammer (tr. 1974).