The Art of Anna Dorothea Therbusch (1721–1782) is the first English-language monograph on this exceptional German artist that critically examines Therbusch’s artworks and career as a history and mythological painter, portraitist, and maker of synthetic pigments within the German and international milieu that both condemned and celebrated her accomplishments. Adding to the excellent scholarship on French, British, Italian, and Swiss eighteenth-century women painters, this book showcases the social and cultural practices of court cultures beyond France, with a focus on German-speaking Europe and how a provocative woman painter navigated within them. Meticulous archival and literary research sheds new light on the importance of the family atelier as a place of networking, collaboration, and experimentation in the eighteenth century and provides a fresh perspective on the growing Prussian intellectual and mercantilist cultures and their impact on Therbusch’s artistic production and the unavoidable fluency between painting, the minor or luxury arts, and the laboratory. Therbusch's life and art enriches our understanding of female artistic agency and the complexities of pursuing a career in the male- and academy-dominated art world of the eighteenth century.
- Cover
- Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1. A Woman Artist Painting Women
- Artist and Model
- The Woman Artist as History Painter and the Académie Royale
- From Mythological Paintings to Portraiture: Painting the Female Form in Prussia
- 2. Collaboration as a Veil
- Collaboration and Resistance
- Painted by Her Hand
- Artistic Collaboration in the Family Atelier
- Portraits of the Prussian Royal Family for Catherine II
- 3. Turning Back to the Dutch Masters
- Self-Portraits and the Windowsill
- Düsseldorf Gallery
- Dynamism of Berlin and Unter den Linden
- 4. Arcanum, a New Red
- A Woman Artist and Experimental Science
- Rise of Synthetic Pigments
- Red and the Colouring of Gender
- Epilogue
- Bibliography
- Index
- List of Illustrations
- Figure 0.1. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Die Schaukel (The Swing), 1741. Oil on canvas, 104 × 153 cm. GK I 7436. SPSG, Photo: Gerhard Murza.
- Figure 0.2. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Das Federballspiel (The Badminton Game), 1741. Oil on canvas, 104 × 184 cm. GK I 7437. SPSG, Photo: Roland Handrick.
- Figure 1.1. Johann Veit Kauperz after Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Artemisia, 1771. Mezzotint, 37.5 × 44.5 cm. bpk Bildagentur/Gemäldegalerie / Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Germany / Dietmar Katz / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 1.2. Peter Paul Rubens, Artemisia, 1615–16. Oil on canvas, 109 × 116.30 cm. GK I 7596. SPSG, Photo: Ulrich Frewel.
- Figure 1.3. Titian, Danaë, 1544–46. Oil on canvas, 120 × 172 cm. Capodimonte Museum, Naples / Scala / Ministero per i Beni e le Attività culturali / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 1.4. Titian, Danaë and the Shower of Gold, 1560–65. Oil on canvas, 129.8 × 181.2 cm. Prado Museum, Spain / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 1.5. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Self-Portrait, 1761. Oil on canvas, 66 × 49 cm. Inv. 1104. bpk Bildagentur / Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 1.6. Jean-Honore Fragonard’s The Model’s Debut, 1770. Oil on canvas, 50 × 60cm. Jacquemart-André Museum, Paris / Jean Schormans / RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 1.7. Neues Schloss, Spiegelgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany. Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg EL 228 a I Nr 1074.
- Figure 1.8. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Justice, c. 1762. Photograph. Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz, VI. HA Nl Reidemeister, Nr. 41.
- Figure 1.9. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Air, c. 1762. Photograph. Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz, VI. HA Nl Reidemeister, Nr. 41.
- Figure 1.10. Juno with her peacock in the clouds; representing the element of air. Engraving by J. Sadeler, 1587, after D. Barendsz. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.
- Figure 1.11. Detail, Neues Schloss, Spiegelgalerie, Stuttgart, Germany. Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg EL 228 a I Nr 1074.
- Figure 1.12. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Fall, c. 1762. Photograph. Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz, VI. HA Nl Reidemeister, Nr. 41.
- Figure 1.13. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Spring, c. 1762. Photograph. Geheimes Staatsarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz, VI. HA Nl Reidemeister, Nr. 41.
- Figure 1.14. Charles-Joseph Natoire, Fall from the The Four Seasons, 1735. Etching, 25.1 × 26.2 cm Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1953. Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY.
- Figure 1.15. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Diana spied on by a Satyr at her Bath (Diana von Satyr im Bade belauscht), c. 1764. Oil on canvas, 168 × 175 cm. Bayerisches Staatsbad, Bad Steben, on permanent loan from Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, München, I
- Figure 1.16. Rosalba Carriera, Nymph from Apollo’s Retinue, 1721. Pastel on paper, 61.5 × 54.5 cm. Musée du Louvre, Paris, France / RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 1.17. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Jupiter Transformed into Pan, Surprising the Sleeping Antiope, 1767. Reproduced in Starye gody, July–September 1916, 98.
- Figure 1.18. Charles-André van Loo, Jupiter and Antiope, c. 1753. Oil on canvas, 50 × 72 cm. State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. Fine Art Images / Bridgeman Images.
- Figure 1.19. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Venus at her Toilette, 1772. Oil on canvas, 134 × 100 cm. GK I 5755. SPSG, Photo: Michael Lüder.
- Figure 1.20. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Diana with her Nymphs, 1772. Oil on canvas, 134 × 99 cm. GK I 5756. SPSG, Photo: Wolfgang Pfauder.
- Figure 1.21. Antoine Pesne, Diana and her Nymphs Bathing, 1747. Oil on canvas, 300 × 196 cm. GK I 8247. SPSG, Photo: Klaus Bergmann.
- Figure 1.22. Charles-Joseph Natoire, The Toilet of Psyche, 1735. Oil on canvas, 198 × 169 cm. New Orleans Museum of Art.
- Figure 1.23. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Wilhelmine Enke, 1776. Oil on canvas, 143 × 103 cm. GK I 2584. SPSG, Photo: Roland Handrick.
- Figure 1.24. François Boucher, Madame Pompadour, 1759. Oil on canvas, 91 × 68 cm. Wallace Collection, London / Bridgeman Images.
- Figure 2.1. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Self-Portrait, 1773. Oil on canvas, 21.6 × 16.9 cm. Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 2.2. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Portrait of Ernest Friedrich Therbusch, c. 1770. Oil on canvas, 25.7 × 21.4 cm. Germanisches Nationalmuseum.
- Figure 2.3. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Self-Portrait, 1776. Oil on canvas, 146.5 × 116 cm. Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Museen, Inv. Nr. G 69.
- Figure 2.4. Christoph Reinhold Lisiewsky, Self-Portrait by Candlelight, c. 1760. Oil on canvas, 87 × 72.5 cm. Staatliche Museum Schwerin.
- Figure 2.5. Angelica Kauffman, Design, 1778–80. Oil on canvas, 126 × 148.5 cm. Object ID: 03/1129. Royal Academy of Arts, London, Photo: John Hammond.
- Figure 2.6. Angelica Kauffman, Self-Portrait with the Bust of Minerva c. 1784. Oil on canvas, 93.0 × 76.5 cm. Bündner Kunstmuseum Chur, Depositum der Gottfried Keller-Stiftung, Bundesamt für Kultur, Bern 1945.
- Figure 2.7. Angelica Kauffman, Self-Portrait, 1784. Oil on canvas, 64.8 × 50.7 cm. Inv. 1056. Neue Pinakothek / Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich, Germany / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 2.8. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Young Woman in a Negligé, c. 1768. Oil on canvas, 38.8 × 32.2 cm. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie / Christoph Schmidt / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 2.9. David Matthieu, Barbara Rosina Matthieu nee Lisiewska, c. 1747. (lost) Barbara Rosina Matthieu nee Lisiewska, David Matthieu, c. 1757. Reproduced in Ekhart Berckenhagen, Die Malerei in Berlin vom 13. bis zum ausgehenden 18. Jahrhundert. Berlin
- Figure 2.10. Johann Christian Samuel Gohl, Self-Portrait, 1778. Oil on canvas, 71.6 × 59.3 cm. Inv. GG 711. bpk Bildagentur / Herzog Anton Ulrich-Museum, Braunschweig, Germany / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 2.11. Anna Dorothea Therbusch and Christoph Friedrich Reinhold Lisiewsky, Princess Frederica Louisa of Prussia with Prince Frederick William III, c. 1773. Oil on canvas, 248 × 178 cm. GK I 11700. SPSG, Photo: Wolfgang Pfauder.
- Figure 2.12. Antoine Pesne, Princess Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, c. 1744. Oil on canvas, 150.3 × 111.7 cm. GK I 1029. SPSG, Photo: Jörg P. Anders.
- Figure 2.13. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Princess Anna Elisabeth Lousia of Prussia born Markgrafin von Brandenburg-Schwedt, 1773. Oil on canvas, 349 × 141 cm. State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
- Figure 2.14. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Portrait of Elizabeth Christina, Queen of Prussia, 1773. Oil on canvas, 245 × 176 cm. State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.
- Figure 2.15. Georg Wenzelaus von Knobelsdorff, Queen Sophia Dorothea, c. 1737. Oil on canvas, 142 × 109.50. GK I 5237. bpk Bildagentur / SPSG / Photo: Wolfgang Pfauder / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 3.1. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Self-Portrait, c. 1753. Oil on canvas, 51 × 39.50. GK I 30067. SPSG, Photo: Jörg P. Anders.
- Figure 3.2. Anna Dorothea Therbusch Self-portrait, 1782. Oil on canvas, 65.7 × 54.6 cm. Inv. Gm1277. Germanisches Nationalmuseum / Photo: Dirk Meßberger / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 3.3. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Self-Portrait, c. 1782. Oil on canvas, 153.5 × 118 cm. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin / Photo: Jörg P. Anders / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 3.4. Antoine Pesne, Mädchen am Fenster, 1706. Oil on canvas, 107 × 85 cm. GK I 5031. SPSG, Photo: Gerhard Murza.
- Figure 3.5. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Young Scholar with a Microscope, c. 1765. Oil on canvas, 122 cm × 95 cm. GK I50859. SPSG, Photo: Klaus Bergmann.
- Figure 3.6. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Winedrinker by Candlelight, 1766–67. Oil on canvas, 108.5 × 91.3 cm. École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris, France / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 2.3. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Self-Portrait, 1776. Oil on canvas, 146.5 × 116 cm. Klassik Stiftung Weimar, Museen, Inv. Nr. G 69.
- Figure 3.7. Gerrit Dou, Self-portrait, 1665. Oil on wood, 48.9 × 39.1 cm. Bequest of Benjamin Altman, 1913 (14.40.607). The Metropolitan Museum of Art / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 3.8. Rachel Ruysch and Michiel van Musscher, Rachel Ruysch, 1692. Oil on canvas, 76.2 × 63.5 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 3.9. Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich, Self-Portrait, 1765. Oil on wood, 30.5 × 23 cm. Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (Brussels), inv. 85, Photo: Grafisch Buro Lefevre.
- Figure 3.10. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Portrait of Nicolas de Pigage, c. 1763. Oil on canvas, 79 × 61 cm. Stiftung Schloss und Park Benrath.
- Figure 3.11. Gerrit Dou, The Quack, 1652. Oil on canvas, 112.4 × 83.4 cm. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam / HIP / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 3.12. Friedrich Gottlieb Berger, Neuer geometrischer Plan der Koeniglichen Haupt und Residentzstadt Berlin, 1772. Print, 54 × 66.5 cm. IV 59/330 Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin.
- Figure 3.13. Carl Friedrich Fechhelm, Unter den Linden, 1770. Oil on canvas. Staatliche Museen, Berlin / Bridgeman Images.
- Figure 3.14. Johann David Schleuen, frontispiece, Der Uhrmacher. In Werkstäte der heutigen Künste oder die neue Kunsthistorie, vol. 2, Brandenburg and Leipzig: Halle, 1762, 239.
- Figure 3.15. Memorial to Anna Dorothea Therbusch. Dorotheenstädtische Kirche. Bildarchiv Foto Marburg / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 3.16. Christian Bernhard Rode, Epitaph for Anna Dorothea Therbusch, c. 1782. Etching. Graphische Sammlung, K23852 / Germanisches Nationalmuseum.
- Figure 4.1. Anna Dorothea Therbusch and Christoph Friedrich Reinhold Lisiewsky, Portrait of Christian Andreas Cothenius, 1777. Oil on canvas, 130 × 99 cm. Inv. Nr. GEM 84/3. Sammlung Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin / Photo: Oliver Ziebe, Berlin.
- Figure 4.2. Marie Meurdrac, frontispiece, La chymie charitable et facile, en faveur des dames, Paris: L. d’Houry, 1687.
- Figure 4.3. Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin, Portrait of Joseph Aved, 1734. Oil on canvas, 138 × 105 cm. Musée du Louvre, Département des Peintures / Scala / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 4.4. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Staatsminister Ludwig Philipp Freiherr von Hagen, 1771. Oil on canvas, 151 cm × 122.50 cm. GK I 3314. SPSG / Photo before 1945.
- Figure 4.5. Anna Dorothea Therbusch, Portrait of Charles Theodore, Elector Palatine, 1763. Oil on canvas. bpk Bildagentur / Reiss-Engelhorn-Museen, Mannheim / Photo: Jean Christen / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 4.6. Christoph Joseph Werner and engraver Johann Georg Wolfgang, Frontispiece, Deutsche Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin. Miscellanea berolinensia ad incrementum scientiarum. Berolini: sumptibus J.C. Papenii, 1710.
- Figure 4.7. Joshua Reynolds, Self-Portrait when Young, 1753–58. Oil on canvas, 737 × 616 mm. Tate, London / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 4.8. Daniel Baudesson and Daniel Chodowiecki, Tabatière,1740-1760. Gold, silver, enamel, 3.9 × 8.2 × 6.1 cm. Inv.: OA6752. Photo: Martine Beck-Coppola / RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 4.9. William Hogarth, Time Smoking a Painting, 1761. Etching and aquatint, 23.5 × 18.4 cm. Guildhall Art Gallery Metropolitan Archives (City of London) / HIP / Art Resource, NY.
- Figure 5.1. Friederike Juliane Lisiewska, Self Portrait at the Age 21, 1793. Oil on canvas, 79 × 64 cm. Private Collection. HIP / Art Resource, NY.
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