Sculpture of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Procopius

The sculpture of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Procopius was commissioned by Count Romedius Joseph Franz Thun in 1712, as evidenced by the chronogram in the inscription cartouche above the donor’s coat of arms. This monumental, multi-figure sculpture was created in the Prague workshop of Johann Brokoff (signed “OPUS IOANNIS BROKOFF”); the author was the most prominent member of the workshop, Ferdinand Maximilian Brokoff. The sculpture of the two saints is mounted on a tall conical pedestal, with three herms – half-figures of a subdued Turk, a Jew, and the Devil. The sides of the pedestal are adorned with a pair of reliefs of exceptional quality. The left relief depicts the Last Judgment; on the right, there’s a scene from the life of St. Procopius (the Devil, harnessed to a plow, is plowing a field, while St. Procopius drives him with a cross).

In the upper part on the left side, the elevated figure of St. Vincent Ferrer is standing with his left hand raised in a gesture of blessing; the figure of St. Procopius, with the Devil curled up in a ball at his feet, a cross on his chest and a staff in his right hand, stands on the right. At the feet of St. Vincent there is a kneeling, Devil-possessed and penitent sinner with a scourge in his hand; closer to St. Procopius lies a leper; and on the left, a resurrected skeleton rises from an opening coffin. Inscriptions in various places on the sculpture group indicate the numbers of those resurrected by Vincent (“RESUSCITAVIT 40”) and the sinners converted (“CONVERTIT 100,000 PECCATORES”). The inscriptions beneath the herms convey a similar message: “8000 SARACENOS AD FIDEM CATHOLICAM,” “25 000 JUDAEOS AD CHRISTUM,” and “DAEMONES DOMUIT.” The theme of the Devil’s humiliation allowed the sculptor to combine, in a single sculpture group, depictions of St. Procopius, patron saint of Bohemia, hermit and founder of the Sázava Monastery, and Spanish Dominican preacher St. Vincent Ferrer.

The original sculpture was removed in 2012 due to its deterioration. The chiseled replica, the co-creation of sculptors Ivan Hamáček and Vojtěch Míča, was installed on Charles Bridge in 2024.