Jan Brokoff, also known as Johann Brokoff, (1652–1718) was a baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

-era sculptor

Sculpture

Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...

 and carver.

Brokoff was of German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 origin, born in Spišská Sobota, today in Slovakia

Slovakia

The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...

, then in Royal Hungary

Royal Hungary

The Kingdom of Hungary between 1538 and 1867 was part of the lands of the Habsburg Monarchy, while outside the Holy Roman Empire.After Battle of Mohács, the country was ruled by two crowned kings . They divided the kingdom in 1538...

, and later working and living in Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

. He was the father of the sculptors Michael Brokoff

Michael Brokoff

Michael Johann Joseph Brokoff was a Czech sculptor of the Baroque era, working with sandstone....

 and Ferdinand Brokoff

Ferdinand Brokoff

Ferdinand Maxmilian Brokoff was a sculptor and carver of the Baroque era....

.

In 1675 Brokoff moved from Hungary and worked at various places mainly in Western Bohemia

Bohemia

Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...

. Three years later, in 1692 he settled in Prague and gained the burgher rights in Prague's Staré město. He and his wife Elisabeth had four children: two of the three sons continued in his work (and the younger Ferdinand Maxmilian developed into the most prominent talent of the family), the third one Antonín later became the court poet in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 and a daughter. Jan Brokoff died in Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

.

The works attributed to him are of two kinds: some he made himself, others he only designed and let his son Ferdinand actually make them. Brokoff created the statuary of Lamenting of the Christ (Czech: Pieta) placed on the Charles Bridge

Charles Bridge

The Charles Bridge is a famous historic bridge that crosses the Vltava river in Prague, Czech Republic. Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV, and finished in the beginning of the 15th century...

 in 1695, however this sculpture has been later (1859) moved to the Monastery of the Gracious Sisters of Charles Borromei (Sorores Misericordiae Congregationis S. Caroli Borromei) under the Petřín hill in Prague. Other notable pieces include: a wooden model of the statue of St. John of Nepomuceni

John of Nepomuk

John of Nepomuk is a national saint of the Czech Republic, who was drowned in the Vltava river at the behest of Wenceslaus, King of the Romans and King of Bohemia. Later accounts state that he was the confessor of the queen of Bohemia and refused to divulge the secrets of the confessional...

, according to which the bronze statue, that is presently on Charles Bridge, has been cast, statues of St. Joseph and Christening of the Lord on Charles Bridge (both have been damaged during the revolution days in 1848 and today can be found in the lapidarium of the National Museum in Prague) and many other plastics around Bohemia such as the sculpture in the church of St. Barbara in Manětín, plastics in and nearby the castles in Klášterec nad Ohří, Červený Hrádek, Libochovice, Broumov, etc.