Introduction
Theodor Friedl (February 13, 1842 in Vienna – September 5, 1900 in Warth, Lower Austria) was an Austrian sculptor.
Biography
Friedl studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna under Anton Dominik Fernkorn.Among his first major commissions was a program of architectural sculpture for the 1877 Vienna Stock Exchange, a collaboration with the Danish-Austrian neo-classic architect Theophil Hansen.The program included a quadriga, six full-figure statues, and a series of frieze panels around the cornice line.
The same year Friedl had also begun a long-term working relationship with Viennese architects Fellner & Helmer for theaters across Europe, transmitting variations of the Viennese neo-classic Ringstraße Style to Sofia, Brno, Berlin, etc.
Friedl was buried with honors at the Zentralfriedhof Cemetery, with a portrait relief on his tomb by sculptor Leopold Kosig.
Work
Friedl's major work includes:
- Vienna Stock Exchange, for architect Theophil Hansen, 1877
- two finial Pegasus statues for the Stadttheater Augsburg, for Fellner & Helmer, 1877 (removed)
- Cupid and Psyche, marble, Belvedere, Vienna, 1882
- exterior and interior work at the Mahen Theatre, Brno, 1882, for Fellner & Helmer, 1882
- interior and exterior work, Municipal Theater of Karlovy Vary, for Fellner & Helmer, 1886
- pediment sculpture and all other facade sculpture, State Opera, Prague, for Fellner & Helmer and other architects, 1888
- Komische Oper Berlin, for Fellner & Helmer, 1892
- freestanding Horse Tamer statue, Maria-Theresien-Platz, 1893
- reliefs on the Liberec Town Hall, Liberec, Czech Republic, for architect Franz Neumann, 1893
- ceiling reliefs in the Dutch Hall and Italian Hall, in the Palais Lanckoroński, Vienna, for Fellner & Helmer, 1895 (razed)