DONNER, RAPHAEL GEORG Austrian sculptor, born on May 24, 1693, at Esslingen in Lower Austria, went to Heiligenkreuz intending to take holy orders, but he was there encouraged to follow his artistic bent by the sculptor Giul iano, and, after working in his studio, entered the Vienna academy. His fine work brought him to the notice of the court and he found employment in Salzburg for some years, afterwards returning to Vienna, where he died on Feb. 15, 1741. His masterpiece is the fountain on the Neumarkt in Vienna, which he executed in the years 1738 and 1739. The figures originally cast in lead, a tech nique favoured by the artist, were replaced by exact copies in bronze in 1873. Other works are the fountain with Perseus and Andromeda in the courtyard of the Vienna Rathaus and a statue of Charles VI. in the Belvedere, Vienna. Donner's refined plastic form and clear outline contrasted with the art of his contempora ries and predecessors, who tended towards exaggerating the rest lessness of Bernini's baroque style, and influenced his followers to adopt a more classic conception of form.