Antoine Pesne was born in Paris in 1683, son of a painter who gave him his first lessons in art. He
later studied at the Academy and with his uncle, Charles de la Fosse. After an extensive tour of Italy,
Pesne came to Berlin in 1711 where he would became a court painter of the Prussian king, staying
for over 46 years as a highly respected and well paid figure at court. He was also the director of the
Berlin Academy. He was a portraitist, and also executed monumental historical and religious subjects.
In 1720, he was made a member of the Paris Academy of Arts. He died in 1757.
later studied at the Academy and with his uncle, Charles de la Fosse. After an extensive tour of Italy,
Pesne came to Berlin in 1711 where he would became a court painter of the Prussian king, staying
for over 46 years as a highly respected and well paid figure at court. He was also the director of the
Berlin Academy. He was a portraitist, and also executed monumental historical and religious subjects.
In 1720, he was made a member of the Paris Academy of Arts. He died in 1757.
| From Thomas Carlyle's Life of Friedrich the Great: |
"For the rest, here is another little incident. We said it had been a disappointment to Papa that his little Fritz showed
almost no appetite for soldiering, but found other sights more interesting to him than the drill-ground. Sympathize, then,
with the earnest Papa, as he returns home one afternoon,--date not given, but to all appearance of that year 1715, when
there was such war-rumoring, and marching towards Stralsund;--and found the little Fritz, with Wilhelmina looking over
him, strutting about, and assiduously beating a little drum.
The paternal heart ran over with glad fondness, invoking Heaven to confirm the omen. Mother was told of it; the
phenomenon was talked of,--beautifulest, hopefulest of little drummers. Painter Pesne, a French Immigrant, or Importee,
of the last reign, a man of great skill with his brush, whom History yet thanks on several occasions, was sent for; or he
heard of the incident, and volunteered his services. A Portrait of little Fritz drumming, with Wilhelmina looking on; to
which, probably for the sake of color and pictorial effect, a Blackamoor, aside with parasol in hand, grinning approbation,
has been added,--was sketched, and dexterously worked out in oil, by Painter Pesne. Picture approved by mankind there
and then. And it still hangs on the wall, in a perfect state, in Charlottenburg Palace; where the judicious tourist may see it
without difficulty, and institute reflections on it."
"A really graceful little Picture; and certainly, to Prussian men, not without weight of meaning."
"Fritz is still, if not in "long-clothes," at least in longish and flowing clothes, of the petticoat sort, which look as of dark-blue
velvet, very simple, pretty and appropriate; in a cap of the same; has a short raven's feather in the cap; and looks up, with
a face and eyes full of beautiful vivacity and child's enthusiasm, one of the beautifulest little figures, while the little drum
responds to his bits of drumsticks. Sister Wilhelmina, taller by some three years, looks on in pretty marching attitude, and
with a graver smile. Blackamoor, and accompaniments elegant enough; and finally the figure of a grenadier, on guard, seen
far off through an opening,--make up the background.
We have engravings of this Picture; which are of clumsy poor quality, and misrepresent it much: an excellent Copy in oil,
what might be called almost a fac-simile and the perfection of a Copy, is now (1854) in Lord Ashburton's Collection here
in England. In the Berlin Galleries,--which are made up, like other Galleries, of goat-footed Pan, Europa's Bull, Romulus's
She-Wolf, and the correggiosity of Correggio; and contain, for instance, no Portrait of Frederick the Great; no Likenesses
at all, or next to none at all, of the noble series of Human Realities, or of any part of them, who have sprung not from the
idle brains of dreaming Dilettanti, but from the Head of God Almighty, to make this poor authentic Earth a little
memorable for us, and to do a little work that may be eternal there:--in those expensive Halls of "High Art" at Berlin, there
were, to my experience, few Pictures more agreeable than this of Pesne's. Welcome, like one tiny islet of Reality amid the
shoreless sea of Phantasms, to the reflective mind, seriously loving and seeking what is worthy and memorable, seriously
hating and avoiding what is the reverse, and intent not to play the dilettante in this world.
The same Pesne, an excellent Artist, has painted Friedrich as Prince-Royal: a beautiful young man with MOIST-looking
enthusiastic eyes of extraordinary brilliancy, smooth oval face; considerably resembling his Mother. After which period,
authentic Pictures of Friedrich are sought for to little purpose. For it seems he never sat to any Painter, in his reigning
days; and the Prussian Chodowiecki, [Pronounce KODOV-YETSKI;--and endeavor to make some acquaintance with
this "Prussian Hogarth," who has real worth and originality.] Saxon Graff, English Cunningham had to pick up his
physiognomy from the distance, intermittently, as they could. Nor is Rauch's grand equestrian Sculpture a thing to be
believed, or perhaps pretending much to be so. The commonly received Portrait of Friedrich, which all German limners
can draw at once,--the cocked-hat, big eyes and alert air, reminding you of some uncommonly brisk Invalid Drill-sergeant
or Greenwich Pensioner, as much as of a Royai Hero,--is nothing but a general extract and average of all the faces of
Friedrich, such as has been tacitly agreed upon; and is definable as a received pictorial-myth, by no means as a fact, or
credible resemblance of life."
almost no appetite for soldiering, but found other sights more interesting to him than the drill-ground. Sympathize, then,
with the earnest Papa, as he returns home one afternoon,--date not given, but to all appearance of that year 1715, when
there was such war-rumoring, and marching towards Stralsund;--and found the little Fritz, with Wilhelmina looking over
him, strutting about, and assiduously beating a little drum.
The paternal heart ran over with glad fondness, invoking Heaven to confirm the omen. Mother was told of it; the
phenomenon was talked of,--beautifulest, hopefulest of little drummers. Painter Pesne, a French Immigrant, or Importee,
of the last reign, a man of great skill with his brush, whom History yet thanks on several occasions, was sent for; or he
heard of the incident, and volunteered his services. A Portrait of little Fritz drumming, with Wilhelmina looking on; to
which, probably for the sake of color and pictorial effect, a Blackamoor, aside with parasol in hand, grinning approbation,
has been added,--was sketched, and dexterously worked out in oil, by Painter Pesne. Picture approved by mankind there
and then. And it still hangs on the wall, in a perfect state, in Charlottenburg Palace; where the judicious tourist may see it
without difficulty, and institute reflections on it."
"A really graceful little Picture; and certainly, to Prussian men, not without weight of meaning."
"Fritz is still, if not in "long-clothes," at least in longish and flowing clothes, of the petticoat sort, which look as of dark-blue
velvet, very simple, pretty and appropriate; in a cap of the same; has a short raven's feather in the cap; and looks up, with
a face and eyes full of beautiful vivacity and child's enthusiasm, one of the beautifulest little figures, while the little drum
responds to his bits of drumsticks. Sister Wilhelmina, taller by some three years, looks on in pretty marching attitude, and
with a graver smile. Blackamoor, and accompaniments elegant enough; and finally the figure of a grenadier, on guard, seen
far off through an opening,--make up the background.
We have engravings of this Picture; which are of clumsy poor quality, and misrepresent it much: an excellent Copy in oil,
what might be called almost a fac-simile and the perfection of a Copy, is now (1854) in Lord Ashburton's Collection here
in England. In the Berlin Galleries,--which are made up, like other Galleries, of goat-footed Pan, Europa's Bull, Romulus's
She-Wolf, and the correggiosity of Correggio; and contain, for instance, no Portrait of Frederick the Great; no Likenesses
at all, or next to none at all, of the noble series of Human Realities, or of any part of them, who have sprung not from the
idle brains of dreaming Dilettanti, but from the Head of God Almighty, to make this poor authentic Earth a little
memorable for us, and to do a little work that may be eternal there:--in those expensive Halls of "High Art" at Berlin, there
were, to my experience, few Pictures more agreeable than this of Pesne's. Welcome, like one tiny islet of Reality amid the
shoreless sea of Phantasms, to the reflective mind, seriously loving and seeking what is worthy and memorable, seriously
hating and avoiding what is the reverse, and intent not to play the dilettante in this world.
The same Pesne, an excellent Artist, has painted Friedrich as Prince-Royal: a beautiful young man with MOIST-looking
enthusiastic eyes of extraordinary brilliancy, smooth oval face; considerably resembling his Mother. After which period,
authentic Pictures of Friedrich are sought for to little purpose. For it seems he never sat to any Painter, in his reigning
days; and the Prussian Chodowiecki, [Pronounce KODOV-YETSKI;--and endeavor to make some acquaintance with
this "Prussian Hogarth," who has real worth and originality.] Saxon Graff, English Cunningham had to pick up his
physiognomy from the distance, intermittently, as they could. Nor is Rauch's grand equestrian Sculpture a thing to be
believed, or perhaps pretending much to be so. The commonly received Portrait of Friedrich, which all German limners
can draw at once,--the cocked-hat, big eyes and alert air, reminding you of some uncommonly brisk Invalid Drill-sergeant
or Greenwich Pensioner, as much as of a Royai Hero,--is nothing but a general extract and average of all the faces of
Friedrich, such as has been tacitly agreed upon; and is definable as a received pictorial-myth, by no means as a fact, or
credible resemblance of life."
| Portrait of the King as a Boy |
| Antoine Pesne painted young Friedrich the Great and his sister in 1714 at the same time as the forthcoming campaign of his father Friedrich Wilhelm I. against Karl XII. of Sweden, who had invaded Stralsund. According to an anecdote stories, Stettin was occupied by 24,000 troops, and the little prince, the future Friedrich the Great, heard the drums in the distant field. While young Friedrich's favorite sister Wilhelmine wanted to play with dolls, the Crown Prince wanted to strike the drum for their marching. He is said to have instructed his sister energetically: "Drums are more useful me than plays, dolls and flowers." Queen Sophie Dorothea related this to her husband in a letter of July 15, 1714 as an awakened military inclination of the Crown Prince, and tells the King that Friedrich wants him to return and teach him the drill. Also present in the picture is a small dog. Friedrich had a life-long love for dogs. |
Pesne painted many portraits of the Prussian royal family. The ill-fated younger sister of Friedrich
the Great, Princess Anna Amalie, is shown above on the left as a young woman. His witty and
talented sister Friederike Sophie Wilhelmine is in the middle. Sophia Dorothea of Hanover
1687-1757, is shown on the right. She was the only daughter of George I and a member of the
British Royal Family, and the wife of King Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia and the mother of Friedrich
the Great.
the Great, Princess Anna Amalie, is shown above on the left as a young woman. His witty and
talented sister Friederike Sophie Wilhelmine is in the middle. Sophia Dorothea of Hanover
1687-1757, is shown on the right. She was the only daughter of George I and a member of the
British Royal Family, and the wife of King Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia and the mother of Friedrich
the Great.
| Note: The grand Pesne portraits were mostly stolen by the communist Red Army after World War Two and carted off to Russia, destroyed or scattered. When he died, the great Court artist Antoine Pesne was buried by the side of Georg Wenzeslaus of Knobelsdorff, 1699-1753, at the old German church in Berlin. Knobelsdorff was not only the royal building master for Friedrich, but also his close friend. After the destruction of the cathedral and graveyard in the Second World War, the communist GDR erased the bronze marker of their graves. Only an inconspicuous, small common gravestone remains today of the famous royal building master Knobelsdorff and the great Pesne. Pesne, below left. Knobelsdorf, below right |
