The Silver Tomb of St. John Nepomuk in the Cathedral of St. Veit's Prague, designed by Fischer von Erlach, 1729 1724 - 1734

Jeremias Jakob Sedelmayr designed this red chalk drawing in 1729 after Fischer von Erlach’s design for the silver tomb of St. John Nepomuk. The sepia tones evoke a sense of historical depth, while the precise linework captures the ornate details of the tomb's design. The composition emphasizes a hierarchical arrangement, drawing the eye upward from the structured base to the saint at the pinnacle. The drawing’s visual organization conveys religious ideology through architectural structure. The tomb's design mirrors the baroque period’s taste for dramatic and theatrical displays of power. The upward thrust of the design symbolizes spiritual ascension. The cherubic figures and intricate carvings, rendered with meticulous detail, act as signs of divine presence and baroque extravagance. Consider how Sedelmayr’s drawing functions both as a preparatory sketch and as a commentary on the cultural values embedded in the tomb’s design. The drawing destabilizes the boundary between the functional and the symbolic.