Statue of John of Nepomuk, Charles Bridge

Not to be confused with Statue of John of Nepomuk, Vyšehrad.

The statue of John of Nepomuk (Czech: Socha svatého Jana Nepomuckého) is an outdoor sculpture, installed in 1683 on the north side of the Charles Bridge in Prague, Czech Republic. It was the first of the many Baroque images of saints to be installed on the bridge.

Statue of John of Nepomuk
Czech: Socha svatého Jana Nepomuckého
The statue in 2012
Artist	Jan Brokoff
Type	Sculpture
Subject	John of Nepomuk
Location	Prague, Czech Republic
Coordinates	50.08668°N 14.41025°E / 50.08668; 14.41025

Description and history

Matthias Rauchmiller's clay model (1681) for the statue of St John of Nepomuk which was placed Charles Bridge in Prague in 1683. Its iconography (bearded priest leaning to one side, wearing biretta, holding crucifix, haloed by five stars) became the archetype for later representations of this saint.

The bronze statue is based on a clay model made in 1681 by Matthias Rauchmiller. The sculptor Jan Brokoff created a large wooden sculpture based on Rauchmiller's model, which was then cast in bronze in Nuremberg.

Rauchmiller's clay model is now in the collection of the National Gallery of Prague.^[1]

Brokoff's wooden statue (gilded) has been displayed on the altar of Prague's Church of St. John of Nepomuk On the Rock since 1819.^[2][3][4]