Johann Friedrich Anthing

After his theological studies in Iena, Anthing travelled across Europe, going from one royal court to the next, as a silhouette artist.

He drew portraits of princes, courtiers and famous personalities such as Goethe during his stay at the Weimar court (1789).

He was employed in Saint-Petersburg from 1783 and drew portraits of members of the imperial family, including Grand Duke Paul Petrovitch (then Paul I of Russia) and his wife Maria Fedorovna, as well as members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Anthing travelled to Frankfurt in 1790 to attend the crowning of Leopold II, and he published a description of the ceremony.

Married to a Frenchwoman, he had a daughter, Johanna Maria Sophia "Sophinka" d'Anthing (1799–1823), who settled in France.