Porträt einer alten Frau Source: Wikipedia Commons

Balthasar Denner (seated) and hisfamily (Self-portrait). Source: Wikipedia Commons

Balthasar Denner, born 15 November 1685 at Hamburg and died 14 April 1749 at Rostock, was one of the most important portrait painters of his time. His father was Jakob Denner, the well-known Dompelaar preacher of Hamburg-Altona; his mother was Katharine Wiebe. In 1710 Offenbach relates that among the important persons he visited in Hamburg was the Denner family; concerning Denner's parental home he remarks, "They [the Mennonites] in general all seem to be very fine and pious people." One of his best pupils was Dominicus van der Smissen, who married his sister Katharina.

Wichmann reports in his history of Altona that Balthasar Denner had to paint an annual portrait of Countess Reventlow in payment for the use of the church in which his father preached for the Dompelaars.

Bibliography

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, and Waterloo, Ontario, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 2, p. 36. All rights reserved. For information on ordering the encyclopedia visit the Herald Press website.

©1996-2013 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.