Friedrich Drake
Illustration — Friedrich Drake, c. 1860s • Illustration — Victory on top of the Berlin Victory Column • Illustration — Detail on monument for King Frederick William III of Prussia in Berlin near Brandenburg Gate. 1849 Friedrich Drake (23 June 1805 – 6 April 1882) was a German sculptor and medallist, best known for his huge memorial statues.
Friedrich Drake

Galerie Bassenge · Public domain
- Born
- 1805. · Bad Pyrmont.
- Died
- 1882. · Berlin.
- Nationality
- Principality of Waldeck.
- Occupation
- sculptor and artist.
- Education
- Academy of Arts and Berlin.
- Teachers
- Christian Daniel Rauch.
- Known for
- Nike Crowns the Hero.
- Honours
- Order of the Red Eagle, Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts order, Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art and Legion of Honour.
- Languages
- German.
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Documentary summary
Illustration — Friedrich Drake, c. 1860s • Illustration — Victory on top of the Berlin Victory Column • Illustration — Detail on monument for King Frederick William III of Prussia in Berlin near Brandenburg Gate. 1849 Friedrich Drake (23 June 1805 – 6 April 1882) was a German sculptor and medallist, best known for his huge memorial statues.
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Authority files
wikidata · Q514178 · wikipedia · Friedrich Drake
In this article
Biography
Biography
Friedrich Drake studied at Academy of Arts, Berlin. Training under Christian Daniel Rauch is recorded. Johannes Schilling is recorded as having studied under Friedrich Drake. The recorded working language is German. Places of work recorded in the authority are Putbus. Works named in the authority record are Nike Crowns the Hero. Work by Friedrich Drake is recorded in the collections of Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and Berlinische Galerie. Distinctions recorded are Order of the Red Eagle, Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts order, Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art and Legion of Honour.
He was the son of a mechanic and served an apprenticeship as a turner in Minden, afterwards being employed in his father's workshop. While there, he made several clay models to amuse himself. A relative of Christian Daniel Rauch saw them and was impressed, so Drake was given a position in Rauch's Berlin studio. His first major commission came in 1836. It was for a colossal statue of Justus Möser in the city of Osnabrück and paid his way for the traditional study trip to Italy. With a letter of recommendation from Rauch, he visited Bertel Thorvaldsen and presented him with engravings of his work. He returned to Berlin in 1837 and was appointed to the Prussian Academy of Arts. He quickly set up a workshop of his own, with his brothers Georg and Louis as assistants and his sister Karoline as the housekeeper. Karoline married the painter Friedrich Eduard Meyerheim and, in 1843, Drake married Lisette Schönherr, with whom he had six children. In 1847, Drake was named a "Royal Professor" and, in 1863, he was awarded the Order of Merit of the Prussian Crown for Arts and Sciences. He became Vice-chancellor of the Academy in 1879. Using his experience as a trained mechanic, he invented a frame that enabled nude models to hold their poses. During these years, his workshop was constantly busy producing sculptures of many well-known people, including a statue of Philipp Melanchthon in Wittenberg and a statue of Alexander von Humboldt in Philadelphia to mark the centenary of the Declaration of Independence. He married the Countess Marie of Waldeck in 1859, after his first wife's untimely death.
Works
Works
He executed numerous statues and busts of famous figures, including Lorenz Oken, Leopold von Ranke, Otto von Bismarck and Helmuth von Moltke the Elder. Other works include: • Victory on top of the Berlin Victory Column. The statue was originally criticized for being too big and clumsy for the small column. In 1939, the column was widened. • Eight Provinces of Prussia, represented by large allegorical figures. • Dying Warrior crowned by Victory (1833) • Madonna and Child, bought by the Empress of Russia • Female Vine Dresser (National Museum, Berlin) • Philipp Melanchthon monument on the market square at Wittenberg (dedicated 1865) • Bronze equestrian statue of King William I of Prussia at Cologne. At the International Exposition (1867). This monument earned him the gold medal of the Legion of Honor. • Bronze statue of King Frederick Wilhelm III in front of the Rathaus at Kolberg, Pomerania. • Colossal bronze statue of Justus Möser, a German statesman, for Osnabrück (1836) • Marble statue of the famous sculptor Christian Rauch (vestibule of the Neues Museum, Berlin) • Statue of the famous architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel (1869) • Marble group on the Schlossbrücke (Castle Bridge) representing "Warriors Crowned by Victory" (1850) • Statue of Alexander von Humboldt (Philadelphia), 1871 • Prussian coin design and model for the Thaler 1871 Victory over France
Identity
Identity
Friedrich Drake is recorded as having received Order of the Red Eagle, Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts order and Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1805–1882
The full dated record · 3 entries
1805
Friedrich Drake born at Bad Pyrmont.
1873
Siegessäule is dated 1873.
1882
Friedrich Drake died at Berlin.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Bad Pyrmont.
Birth place
Berlin.
Death place
Recognition and collections
Where the work is held
Recognition and collections
Friedrich Drake received Order of the Red Eagle, Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts order, Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art and Legion of Honour.
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q514178: Friedrich Drake
Reputable secondary · Wikimedia Foundation
- “Friedrich Drake”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
scholarly publication
- Drake, Friedrich Johann Heinrich, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2011
Other sources
Other sources
* * Attribution *
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Church of the Twelve Apostles, Berlin: Drake's burial place with biography
- 2.Der Orden pour le Merite für Wissenschaft und Künste. Die Mitglieder des Orden. Band I. Gebr. Mann-Verlag, Berlin 1975, S. 232.
- 3.Northern Germany by Karl Baedeker, 14th revised edition, Leipzig, 1904, p.178.
- 4.Klaus Sommer. Die Medaillen der königlich-preussischen Hof-Medailleure Carl Christoph Pfeuffer und Friedrich Wilhelm Kullrich. Biblio-Verlag. 139. 1986.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Verifiedreference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q514178: Friedrich DrakeWikimedia Foundation
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Friedrich Drake studied at Academy of Arts, Berlin. He trained under Christian Daniel Rauch. Each of those relationships is stated by the authority record rather than inferred from style.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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