The Gemäldegalerie in Berlin honors the painter Anna Dorothea Therbusch

Anna Dorothea Therbusch (1721-1782) was one of the few women of her time to be accepted into the most important European art academy, the Académie royale de peinture et de sculpture in Paris. But her path there was by no means preordained: as the daughter of the Prussian court painter Georg Lisiewsky, she received a basic painterly education in her early years, but this profession was initially denied her. She married an innkeeper and had five children − she had to educate herself in painting in secret.

It was not until she was 40 that Therbusch was able to devote herself fully to art, and within a short time she achieved her first successes. In 1764 she was even appointed court painter in Mannheim herself. After her acceptance into the academy, Therbusch returned to Berlin, where she was in demand as a portrait painter. Catherine the Great, for example, commissioned Therbusch to paint full-length portraits of the entire Prussian royal family − the paintings can be seen today in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

The special exhibition in Berlin draws deserved attention to an unusual painter who achieved remarkable things for her time. A name that, like that of Therbusch's contemporary Angelika Kauffmann, should be found more often in exhibitions. Therbusch's works will be on view at the Gemäldegalerie until April 10, 2022.