Friederike Juliane von Lisiewska (1769-1856) was one of the few women in the 18th century who studied at the Berlin Academy of Arts and also devoted her-self to a career in painting throughout her life. The discovery and acquisition of her earliest self-portrait led to this catalogue produced by the Staatliche Museum Schwerin.
This volume offers surprising insights into the life of the artist, showing Friederike to be an ambitious and well-networked painter. Against the back-ground of Friederike's familial ties to the well-known Lisiewski dynasty of painters, an image of a self-assured artist emerges, who was conscious of both her tradition and her skill. Interestingly, the letters now published reveal illuminating facts about the painter's everyday life. The book closes an impor-tant gap in the history of women artists about whom we still know too little.