Cosmas Damian Asam
painter and architect; b. September 29, 1686; d. May 10, 1739.
The brothers, Cosmas Damian Asam and Ægid Quirin Asam, were sons of the painter Hans Georg Asam, who decorated the Church of Benediktbeuren, Germany, in 1693. They were trained in Rome at the time when the reputation of Andrea Pozzo was at its height, and were contemporaries of the elder Tiepolo. Cosmas decorated (about 1724), the stairway and chapel of the Palace of Schleissheim near Munich. He does not appear to have been much employed at the Residenz in Munich, which was then in process of construction under François Cuvilliés. The most important work of the brothers Asam is the Johanneskirche in Munich (1733—1746), which is undoubtedly the finest specimen of the baroque style in Germany.
Jean Cailleteau (called l'Assurance)
architect; d. 1755.
A son of Cailleteau the elder. In 1715 he went to Rome to study. In 1724 he succeeded his father as contrôleur at the château of Marly, France. Between 1748 and 1750 he made extensive additions to the châteaux of Crécy, Saint-Cloud, and Aulnay for Madame de Pompadour. For her also he built the château of Bellevue in 1751. In 1749 he was appointed contrôleur of the buildings at Fontainebleau. He continued his father's work at the Hôtel d'Evreux (now Palais de l'Elysée).
Georg Raphael Donner
sculptor and architect; b. May 25, 1693 (at Essling near Vienna); d. February 15, 1741.
After the siege of Vienna in 1683 and the defeat of the Turks, there began an important period of architectural development in Austria which continued far into the eighteenth century. The sculptured decoration of these buildings is usually in the debased baroque style. The work of Raphael Donner is an exception, being characterized by great simplicity and refinement. Donner's baptismal name was Georg. The name Raphael was added later. He was educated in the convent of the Heiligenkreutz in the Wiener Wald, where he met his first teacher, the sculptor Giuliani. As early as 1724 he appears attached to the imperial court at Vienna. In 1725 he went to Salzburg (Austria) to execute the figures of the stairway of the archbishop's palace of Mirabell. About 1727 he went to Presburg in Hungary and was appointed director of the buildings undertaken by Esterhazy, Prince, primate of Hungary. November 4, 1739, Donner completed his most important work, the great fountain in the Neue Markt (formerly Mehlmarkt) at Vienna. He made also the fountain of the Rathhaus at Vienna, with the bas-relief of Andromeda.
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