Margarethe Sömmering, born Margarethe Elisabeth Grunelius (1768–1802) was a German painter. Born in

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, Sömmering was the sister of a banker, and in 1792 married

Samuel Thomas von Sömmering Samuel is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transition from the biblical judges to the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, and again in the monarchy's transition ...

, who at the time was dean of the medical faculty at the

University of Mainz The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz () is a public research university in Mainz, Rhineland Palatinate, Germany. It has been named after the printer Johannes Gutenberg since 1946. it had approximately 32,000 students enrolled in around 100 a ...

. The couple moved to Frankfurt three years later. She was a pupil of Elisabeth Coengten and Johann Gottlieb Prestel, and was active as a portraitist and copyist, working in miniature and using watercolor and

oils An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturat ...

. She also produced

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

s after

Francesco Bartolozzi __NOTOC__ Francesco Bartolozzi (21 September 1727 – 7 March 1815) was an Italian engraver, whose most productive period was spent in London. He is noted for popularizing the "crayon" method of engraving. Early life Bartolozzi was born in Flo ...

and

Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, known as the ''Goethe Tischbein'' (15 February 1751 in Haina – 26 June 1829 in Eutin), was a German painter from the Tischbein family of artists. Biography Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein was born on 15 Febr ...

.Profile
in the ''Dictionary of Pastellists Before 1800''.

References

1768 births 1802 deaths 18th-century German engravers German women engravers 18th-century German painters 18th-century German women artists 19th-century German painters 19th-century German engravers Artists from Frankfurt 18th-century German women painters 19th-century German women painters {{Germany-painter-stub