Johann August Nahl

He was first taught by his father, Johann Samuel Nahl (1664–1727), who had been court sculptor of Frederic I since 1704.

At the age of 18, Nahl undertook a journey via Sigmaringen and Bern to Strasbourg, where he worked for Robert Le Lorrain.

Here he initially worked for the French royal steward François Klinglin and then later on the bishop's palace of Armand-Gaston de Rohan-Soubise.

Nahl is the author of the brass made in honour of Maria Magdalena Langhans, a clergyman's wife who died giving birth, in the church Hindelbank in the Ber Canton - this brass was one of the most admired in the 18th century.

Regarding this, Johann Wolfgang Goethe wrote the following to Charlotte von Stein on 20 October 1779: "In order to hear about the tomb of the clergymen in the Hindelbank you will have to have patience, for I have much to tell on, about and for it.