The Encyclopedia Americana (1920)/Drake, Friedrich

DRAKE, drä'kë, Friedrich, German sculptor: b. Pyrmont, 23 June 1805; d. Berlin, 6 April 1882. He was the son of a mechanic, and after an apprenticeship in cabinet-making turned to clay modelling and studied under Rauch. He traveled also in Italy, where he met Thorwaldsen (1836-37) by whom he was influenced somewhat. Among his works are ‘The Eight Provinces of Prussia’ (colossal allegorical figures adorning a hall in the royal palace at Berlin), and a ‘Warrior crowned by Victor,’ which is reckoned one of the masterpieces of German sculpture. Noteworthy also are his portrait sculptures of Goethe, Schiller, Rauch; the marble statue of Frederick William III in the Thiergarten, Berlin; that of Christian Rauch, at Berlin; and the colossal bronze representing William I, on the Hohenzollern Bridge of Cologne, for which he was awarded the cross of the Legion of Honor. His work is marked by virility and classic simplicity. He was professor of the Academy of Art at Berlin, and a member of the academies of all the leading countries of Europe. Consult Heinrich, ‘Rauch, Reitschel and Drake’ (Basel 1884).