He moved to whole young and spent his childhood and youth in Riga (then part of the Swedish Empire, now Latvia).
After studying in the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic and travelling in western Europe he returned to Riga as a physician.
Riga and the solurromdimg area passed from the rule of Sweden to the Russian Empire in 1721.
Here he wrote an account of his life Der In Beruhigung und Friede wohnende Montan (1745), in which title the capitals I, B, and F represent his initials.
He also wrote verse idylls Empfindungen des Frühlings (1750), Hirtenlieder und Gedichte (1753), Daphnis an Silen (1754).