Heinrich Max Imhof

He was born to a family of tenant farmers and grew up in simple circumstances, but displayed an early talent for drawing.

Four years later the travel writer, Johann Gottfried Ebel, became aware of his carvings and brought him to Zürich, where he worked as a freelance sculptor, making portrait reliefs.

Not long after returning, he began making a model of "David with the Head of Goliath"; commissioned by his old client, Friedrich Wilhelm, for Charlottenhof Palace.

He also received orders for several royal busts, as well as one of the Renaissance scholar, Johann Reuchlin, for display in the Walhalla Memorial.

In 1836, king Otto of Greece appointed him a Professor at the newly established National Technical University of Athens.