Two hundred surviving works, including at least eighty-five verified portraits, define the career of Anna Dorothea Therbusch. Born in 1721 in Berlin, she emerged from a family of artists to become a prominent Rococo painter. Her professional trajectory spanned the royal courts of Prussia, Stuttgart, and Mannheim before an ambitious but challenging period in Paris.
Early Training and Family Influence
The daughter of Georg Lisiewski, a portrait painter who arrived in Prussia in 1692 with court architect Johann Friedrich Eosander von Göthe, Therbusch learned her craft alongside her siblings Anna Rosina and Christian Friedrich Reinhold. As a youth, she produced copies of Antoine Pesne's fetes galantes, emulating the styles of Watteau, Lancret, and Pater. These early efforts established a foundation in the Rococo style favored by Frederick II.
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In 1742, Therbusch married the Berlin innkeeper Ernst Friedrich Therbusch. For nearly two decades, she set aside painting to assist in the management of her husband's establishment and raise their three children. She did not resume her professional art career until 1760. Upon her return, she focused on history paintings and Dutch-style genre scenes reminiscent of Gerard Dou.
Stuttgart and the Paris Years
Therbusch relocated to Stuttgart in 1761, where she completed eighteen paintings for the castle gallery and gained honorary membership in the Stuttgart Académie des Arts. By 1765, she moved to Paris. Although she faced financial hardship and limited success, her time there was highly creative. The Académie Royale elected her as a member in 1767, and she notably developed a professional relationship with the critic Denis Diderot, who posed for her.
Prussian Success and Final Years
Returning to Berlin via Brussels and the Netherlands by 1769, Therbusch achieved significant prestige as a primary painter in Prussia. She decorated the palace of Sanssouci for Frederick II and completed portraits of eight Prussian royals for Catherine II of Russia. In her later years, her work transitioned toward loose classicism, often featuring Roman motifs. Therbusch died in Berlin in 1782 at age 61 and was buried at the Dorotheenstadt cemetery.
Fast facts
- Born: 1721, Berlin
- Died: 1782, Berlin
- Citizenship: Kingdom of Prussia
- Burial site: Dorotheenstadt Cemetery
- Total self-portraits: 12
- Academy membership: Académie Royale, 1767
- Occupation: Painter
Questions readers ask
Did Therbusch paint self-portraits?
Yes, she created twelve self-portraits during her career, frequently incorporating monocles as her eyesight declined.
Was she successful in Paris?
While her work was displayed by the French Royal Academy and she was elected as a member in 1767, she struggled financially and did not achieve significant commercial success there.