Anna Dorothea Therbusch: A Berlin Artist of the Enlightenment Period

Anna-Dorothea Therbusch, Self-portrait with Monocle, 1706, Gemãldegalerie, Berlin.

Anna Dorothea Therbusch A Berlin Artist of the Enlightenment Period marks the 300th anniversary of the birth in Berlin of Anna Dorothea Therbusch, one of the most important artists of the 18th century. The wife of an innkeeper and mother of five children, Therbusch (1721-1782) was only able to focus on painting at the age of 40. However, by 1767 she was one of the few women ever to be accepted into the most important European art academy of the time, the Parisian Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture. Back in her hometown, she became a sought-after portrait painter and important chronicler of the Enlightenment.