(b Cologne, 13 July 1768; d Cologne, 20 Dec 1844). German sculptor. He came from a family of sculptors resident in Cologne since the early 18th century. He learnt his craft from his father, Johann Joseph Imhoff (1739–1802), and he probably also studied at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf. From the 1790s onwards he produced portrait sculptures (most now untraced), sacred and secular figures, as well as decorative sculpture and reproductions after ancient sculpture, working in both stone and terracotta. Surviving early works include terracotta busts of the collector Johann Wilhelm Baron von Hüpsch (1786–90; Cologne, Stadtmus.) and his housekeeper Eva Mechthild Happerts (1786–90; Darmstadt, Hess. Landesmus.), which show a brilliantly lucid realism emerging from the traditions of Rococo. Around 1800 and for some time afterwards, in striking red sandstone tomb statues and stelae decorated with reliefs, Imhoff evolved a classicizing austerity in the style of Bertel Thorvaldsen (e.g. tombs for Louise Knobel (1823) and Caroline Dornheim (1826); both Cologne, Reformierte Gemeinde Cemetery). These works were in keeping with the provincial taste of the Rhineland.