Maximiliane Brentano | |
|---|---|
.JPG) Drawing of Brentano, before 1774 | |
| Born | Maximiliane Euphrosine von La Roche 4 May 1756 |
| Died | 18 November 1793 (aged 37) |
| Spouse | Peter Anton Brentano |
| Children | |
| Parent | Sophie von La Roche |
Maximiliane Brentano (4 May 1756 – 19 November 1793) was a German woman who is known for her friendship to the young Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and as the mother of the Romantic writers Clemens Brentano and Bettina von Arnim. Born in Mainz, she was the daughter of the Protestant author Sophie von La Roche and the Catholic civil servant and court official Georg Michael Frank von La Roche. From 1771, they lived in Ehrenbreitstein near Koblenz, where her father served at the court of the Electorate of Trier. Her mother published her first novel and became a famous author, and the family residence became a literary salon visited by many notable writers of the era. These visitors included the poets Goethe and Johann Georg Jacobi, both of whom fell in love with Maximiliane, who was described as graceful and charming.
In 1774, she married an Italian-born businessman from Frankfurt, Peter Anton Brentano. Between 1775 and 1793, they had twelve children, of which eight survived to adulthood. In the same year as the birth and death of her twelfth child, Brentano died. She is remembered as part of the inspiration for Goethe's novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, where the dark eyes of the female protagonist Lotte are based on hers, and through the writings of her children.