Background
Caroline Bardua was the daughter of Johann Adam Bardua, the valet of Alexius Frederick Christian, Duke of Anhalt-Bernburg, and Sophie Sabine Kirchner.
Caroline Bardua was the daughter of Johann Adam Bardua, the valet of Alexius Frederick Christian, Duke of Anhalt-Bernburg, and Sophie Sabine Kirchner.
She was one of the first middle-class women who was able to create an existence for herself as an independent artist. Her first art instruction came from 1805 to 1807 under Hans Heinrich Meyer in Weimar. From 1808 to 1811 she, together with Louise Seidler, was a student of Gerhard von Kügelgen in Dresden.
In his workshop she and other students produced copies of paintings.
She also became acquainted with Anton Graff and the then unknown Caspar David Friedrich. In 1819 the two sisters, who remained unmarried for their entire lives, arrived in Berlin, where they led a Salon.
One of the guests was the poet August Friedrich Ernst Langbein. At first Caroline"s work was much in demand in Berlin, but that situation soon changed for the worse.
An exhibit in 1822, in which Caroline"s works were shown together with works by Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow, was one of the main causes of her downfall.
Her portraits of princess Alexandrine of Prussia, the prince and other family members were harshly criticized in comparison with paintings by Schadow, who unlike Bardua had received academic training. In 1827 the two sisters had to give up their residence in Berlin for financial reasons. They then led an intinerant lifestyle, frequently moving between small cities such as Heidelberg or Krefeld, avoiding any competition.
Both of the sisters continued to live together.
The biography, Das Jugendleben der Malerin Caroline Bardua was first published posthumously in 1874.