František Antonín Grimm

Biography
František Antonín Grimm (Franz Anton Grimm) was a Baroque builder and architect active in Moravia. He was the son of a Bavarian builder, Mořic Grimm, who settled in Brno. He gained his first experience in the craft by assisting in his father's studio. In 1730, he enrolled at the Vienna Academy, where he studied the art of drawing and painting. After three years, he transferred to a military academy, where he learned under the guidance of the prominent architect Donato Felice d’Allia and assisted him in project design. For him, Grimm drew plans for the church in Groß-Siegharts, the Klosterneuburg monastery, and the Kaiserstein palace in Vienna, among others. In the late 1730s, with the support of the Dietrichsteins, he undertook a study apprenticeship trip to Rome. In Italy, he also visited Bologna, Caprarola, Vicenza, Milan, and Turin. In 1740, he traveled to Paris, from where he brought back writings by François Blondel on architecture. The following year, he appeared in Vienna, where he joined the engineering corps. In the mid-1740s, he settled back in Moravia and became the court architect and surveyor for Karl Maximilian Dietrichstein and his brother Leopold. After his father's death in 1757, he took over his commissions. He remained in the prince's service until 1767, when there was a restructuring of the Dietrichstein estate. His successor at the Dietrichsteins was Karel J. Hromádko. After Grimm's death, part of his estate was purchased by the Enlightenment Count Karl of Salm-Reifferscheidt, who stored it in his castle in Rájec nad Svitavou. Grimm's successors were Bartoloměj Zintner, who also took over his workshop in Brno, and Jan Amonn.