The Austrian sculptor Georg Raphael Donner (1693-1741) was the first exponent of classicism in 18th-century Austria and the greatest sculptor of the period.

Georg Raphael Donner was born in Esslingen, Lower Austria, on May 24, 1693, the son of a carpenter. After studying with Johann Kaspar Prenner, a goldsmith to the imperial court in Vienna, Donner was apprenticed at the age of 13 to the sculptor Giovanni Giuliani to assist on statuary for the Liechtenstein Palace in Vienna. Donner worked mainly in Vienna and Pressburg (modern Bratislava, Slovakia). His sculptures are largely in marble and bronze, but he early developed a fondness for lead; the soft sheen of the material was well suited to his characteristic smooth modeling, firm outlines, and gracefully elongated figures, based on his obvious study of 16th century Italian sculpture, whose manneristic qualities he blended with classical ideals in a highly individual harmony.

In 1725 Donner worked with...