Marichen Altenburg

A silhouette of the family in Altenburggården (ca. 1820). Marichen to the far right, her parents in the centre. It is the only existing portrait of her.

Marichen Cornelia Martine Altenburg (24 April 1799 – 3 June 1869) was the mother of the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen and is known as the model for several characters in some of Ibsen's most famous plays, including Åse in Peer Gynt.[1] Through the Paus family—the family of Marichen's mother Hedevig and Knud's stepfather Ole Paus—Marichen was raised as a close relative of her would-be husband Knud Ibsen, although they were not closely related biologically.[2][3]

  1. ^ Robert Ferguson, Henrik Ibsen. A New Biography, Richard Cohen Books, London 1996
  2. ^ Jon Nygaard, Jon (2013). «...af stort est du kommen»: Henrik Ibsen og Skien. Senter for Ibsen-studier. ISBN 9788291540122.
  3. ^ Jørgen Haave (2017). Familien Ibsen. Museumsforlaget/Telemark Museum. ISBN 9788283050455.