Anna Dorothea Therbusch (born Anna Dorothea Lisiewski, pl, Anna Dorota Lisiewska, 23 July 1721 – 9 November 1782) was a prominent
Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
painter born in the
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia (german: Königreich Preußen, ) was a German kingdom that constituted the state of Prussia between 1701 and 1918. Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. ...
. About 200 of her works survive, and she painted at least eighty-five verified portraits.
[Artnet.com](_blank)
retrieved 21 July 2009
Life
Anna Dorothea Therbusch was born in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
. She came from a noted family, the daughter of Maria Elisabetha (née Kahlow
) and
Georg Lisiewski (1674–1751), a Berlin portrait painter of
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
stock who arrived in Prussia in 1692 as part of the retinue of the court architect . Georg taught Anna, her sister
Anna Rosina Lisiewski and their brother Christian Friedrich Reinhold to paint.
She was only a teen when she received her training.
Anna Dorothea and her elder sister Anna Rosina were hailed as
Wunderkind
A child prodigy is defined in psychology research literature as a person under the age of ten who produces meaningful output in some domain at the level of an adult expert. The term is also applied more broadly to young people who are extraor ...
er of painting. In her youth, she painted copies of
Antoine Pesne's ''fetes galantes'' and, like Pesne, learned to emulate the style of
Watteau
Jean-Antoine Watteau (, , ; baptised October 10, 1684died July 18, 1721) Alsavailablevia Oxford Art Online (subscription needed). was a French painter and draughtsman whose brief career spurred the revival of interest in colour and movement, as ...
,
Lancret, and
Pater – artists especially admired by Frederic II.
Therbusch focused on painting all genres. She also did history paintings, and experimented with Dutch-style
genre
Genre () is any form or type of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other for ...
scenes similar to those of
Gerard Dou
Gerrit Dou (7 April 1613 – 9 February 1675), also known as Gerard Douw or Dow, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, whose small, highly polished paintings are typical of the Leiden fijnschilders. He specialised in genre scenes and is noted for his ' ...
.
By the end of her life, she had received many honors from Berlin, Stuttgart, and Mannheim. She made very lucrative commissions from her works there. She eventually received royal patronage, after many letters of introduction from her patrons in Paris, Italy, Germany, and Prussia.
Marriage
Anna Dorothea married Berlin innkeeper Ernst Friedrich Therbusch in 1742
and gave up painting until around 1760 in order to help her husband in the restaurant. Not until her spousal obligations were discharged, as a "short-sighted, middle-aged woman", did she return to her art career in 1760.
She had three children by the age of forty. She left Berlin to paint in Stuttgart for the court of Duke Karl Eugen, Duke of Wurttemberg and for increased recognition for her works.
Notable works
''The Swing'' and ''Game of Shuttlecock'' (Neues Palais, Potsdam) are a pair of conversation pieces that defined her first period of work.
''Game of Shuttlecock'' was signed and dated in 1741.
These two paintings were modeled on works of
Jean-Antoine Watteau and similar to those of
Nicolas Lancret
Nicolas Lancret (22 January 1690 – 14 September 1743) was a French painter. Born in Paris, he was a brilliant depicter of light comedy which reflected the tastes and manners of French society during the regency of the Duke of Orleans and, late ...
.
Paris
Therbusch's first recorded return to painting was in 1761 in the
Stuttgart court of Duke
Karl Eugen. She completed eighteen paintings in the shortest time for the castle gallery. In 1762 she became an honorary member of the Stuttgart
''Académie des Arts'', founded by Duke Karl Eugen in 1761, and worked in Stuttgart and
Mannheim
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...
. She did receive recognition for her works. Her talent was recognized by the ''Academia'' of Bologna. She was also honored by the court of Mannheim. Therbusch had painted the Kurfurst Karl Throdor in and received commissions from the Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen.
In 1765 she went to
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. The
French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture displayed her work first, proudly supporting a female artist.
Denis Diderot
Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the '' Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a promi ...
, the controversial and outspoken art critic and philosopher, was sympathetic to her, even to the point of posing naked for her. Anna Dorothea was elected as a member of the Académie Royale in 1767,
lived with Diderot and met famous artists, and even painted Philipp Hackert
but she remained unsuccessful in Paris. That time is, however, seen as her most creative.
Return to Prussia
Paris was, and is, an expensive city and Anna Dorothea had financial difficulties. From November 1768 until early 1769, the heavily indebted painter returned to Berlin, via Brussels and the Netherlands, and became the primary painter in Prussia, where she was held in high esteem. She was portrait painter to
Frederick II of Prussia (Frederick the Great), whose newly built palace of
Sanssouci
Sanssouci () is a historical building in Potsdam, near Berlin. Built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace, it is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and ...
she decorated with mythological scenes. She also painted portraits of eight Prussian royals for
Catherine II of Russia (Catherine the Great). Though Anna Dorothea never went to Russia, Russian collectors also appreciated her work. She also met the group of artists surrounding
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...
. Therbusch would continue to paint into her late life. She frequently painted self-portraits, twelve total. As her eyesight started to fail her, she would frequently add monocles into her self-portraits. Her late paintings were loosely classical, with garbs and hints of Roman goddesses.
She died in Berlin on 9 November 1782 at the age of 61,
and was buried at
Dorotheenstadt cemetery
The Dorotheenstadt Cemetery, officially the Cemetery of the Dorotheenstadt and Friedrichswerder Parishes, is a landmarked Protestant burial ground located in the Berlin district of Mitte which dates to the late 18th century. The entrance to the ...
, whose pertaining church was destroyed in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. Her tomb remains intact.
Her relationship with
Diderot inspired
Éric-Emmanuel Schmitt
Eric-Emmanuel Schmitt (born 28 March 1960) is a Franco–Belgian playwright, short story writer and novelist, as well as a film director. His plays have been staged in over fifty countries all over the world.
Life
Early years
Eric-Emmanuel S ...
to write his play ''Der Freigeist'' ("The Free Spirit"), also known as ''Der Libertin'' ("The Libertine").
References and sources
;References
;Sources
''This article was translated from
its equivalent in the German Wikipedia on 20 July 2009.''
* Katharina Küster, Beatrice Scherzer and Andrea Fix: ''Der freie Blick. Anna Dorothea Therbusch und
Ludovike Simanowiz
Kunigunde Sophie Ludovike Simanowiz (née Reichenbach; February 21, 1759, Schorndorf - September 3, 1827, Ludwigsburg) was a German portrait painter in the Classical style.
Biography
Her father was a military feldsher and her mother was the da ...
. Zwei Porträtmalerinnen des 18. Jahrhunderts.'' (Catalog for exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum Ludwigsburg, Kunstverein Ludwigsburg, Villa Franck, 2002/2003), Kehrer Verlag Heidelberg,
* Bärbel Kovalevski (ed.): ''Zwischen Ideal und Wirklichkeit, Künstlerinnen der Goethe-Zeit zwischen 1750 und 1850'', exhibition catalogue, Hatje Crantz Verlag, Gotha, Constance, 1999,
*
Frances Borzello: ''Wie Frauen sich sehen. Selbstbildnisse aus fünf Jahrhunderten.'' Karl Blessing Verlag Munich 1998.
* Gottfried Sello: ''Malerinnen aus fünf Jahrhunderten.'' Ellert und Richter, Hamburg 1988,
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Therbusch, Anna Dorothea
1721 births
1782 deaths
18th-century German painters
18th-century German women artists
Artists from Berlin
People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg
German women painters