Angel Christine Westphalen

Angel Christine Westphalen. Painting by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein , Hamburger Kunsthalle

Angel Christine Westphalen. Lithograph by Otto Speckter , 1839, Hamburg State and University Library

Engel Christine Westphalen ( also Engeline; née Engel Christine von Axen ; * December 8, 1758 in Hamburg ; † May 10, 1840 there ) was a German writer .

Life

Engel Christine Westphalen was the tenth of eleven children of the wealthy merchant and citizen captain Jacob von Axen and Catharina Maria, née. Albers born in Hamburg. She received a careful and good upbringing from her parents. She became interested in languages, art and science at an early age and began to write poetry. She was supported above all by her mother's confessor, Christoph Christian Sturm .

On August 4, 1785, she married the merchant and later Senator Johann Ernst Friedrich Westphalen . The marriage had five children, of whom a son and two daughters survived. In the following years, the family house became the focus of the most important personalities in Hamburg and regularly u. a. visited by Gerhard Anton Gramberg , Gerhard Anton von Halem , Johann Georg Büsch , Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein and Johann Gottfried Gurlitt . Especially during the French Revolution , it was also a gathering place for French refugees. Louis Philippe von Orléans , who later became King of France, visited her house, as did Charles-François Dumouriez and Crown Prince Bernadotte. Your successful revolutionary drama about Charlotte Corday , the murderess of Jean Paul Marat , may have been inspired by her contacts with the French refugees.

Engel Christine Westphalen published her first poems under the pseudonym "Angelika" in Halem's magazine Irene . Later works and also her two dramas Charlotte Corday and Petrarca appeared anonymously before starting to publish under her own name in 1809. In 1812 she went on a trip through Germany and Switzerland with her husband and their youngest daughter. She made personal acquaintance with Johann Joachim Eschenburg , Christoph Martin Wieland , Samuel Thomas von Soemmerring , Joseph von Bechtolsheim , Johanna Schopenhauer and Caroline Pichler , with whom she sometimes also exchanged letters. In her volume of poems, Gesänge der Zeit , she processed the horror of the destruction in her own country after her return from Switzerland . On October 10, 1815, Engel Christine Westphalen received the golden commemorative coin of the city of Hamburg, dedicated to civil virtue, for her charitable work. Throughout her life she supported various charitable foundations. B. the proceeds of her work Gesänge der Zeit , which amounted to 580 thalers, to a women's association.

In old age she was in regular contact with the most important men in Hamburg, such as Johann Diederich Gries , Friedrich Sieveking , Caspar Voght and Heinrich Hübbe . Engel Christine Westphalen died in Hamburg at the age of 81. Numerous manuscripts were found in her estate, including a diary and a cookbook, which was published posthumously.

Works

• Christine (from Axen) Westphalen: Charlotte Corday . Tragedy in 5 acts with choirs. Benjamin Gottlob Hoffmann, Hamburg 1804 ( google.de [accessed April 17, 2017]).
• Christine (from Axen) Westphalen: Petrarca . A dramatic poem in 5 acts. Benjamin Gottlob Hoffmann, Hamburg 1806 ( google.de [accessed April 17, 2017]).
• Poems , in three volumes
  • Christine Westphalen, b. von Axen: poems . tape 1 . Benjamin Gottlob Hoffmann, Hamburg 1809 ( mdz-nbn-resolving.de [accessed April 17, 2017]).
  • Christine Westphalen, b. von Axen: poems . tape 2 . Benjamin Gottlob Hoffmann, Hamburg 1809 ( mdz-nbn-resolving.de [accessed April 17, 2017]).
  • Christine Westphalen, b. von Axen: poems . Smaller poems, monuments, elegies and idylls. tape 3 . Benjamin Gottlob Hoffmann, Hamburg 1811 ( mdz-nbn-resolving.de [accessed April 17, 2017]).
• Christine Westphalen, b. von Axen: Songs of Time . A dramatic poem in 5 acts. Benjamin Gottlob Hoffmann, Hamburg 1815 ( mdz-nbn-resolving.de [accessed April 17, 2017]).
• Newer poems. 4 volumes. Meissner, Hamburg 1835.
• Devotional songs. Female association for the poor and the sick, Hamburg 1835.

Portraits

• Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (1751–1829), Angel Christine Westphalen , oil on canvas, 41 × 34 cm, Hamburger Kunsthalle .
• Jean-Laurent Mosnier (1743–1808), Angel Christine Westphalen , oil on canvas, 244 × 159 cm (picture), 1800, Hamburger Kunsthalle, digitized
• Otto Speckter (1807–1871), Engel Christine Westphalen , lithograph, 33 × 26 cm, sheet size 56 × 37 cm, 1839, Hamburg State and University Library

literature

• Max Mendheim :  Westphalen, Angel Christine . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 42, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1897, p. 217 f.
• Carl Wilhelm Otto August von Schindel : The German women writers of the 19th century. Leipzig, FA Brockhaus 1825, pp. 421-422.
• Obituary for Engel Christine Westphalen in the Allgemeine Literatur-Zeitung, March 1841, pp. 74f.
• Susanne Kord: A look behind the scenes. German-speaking playwrights in the 18th and 19th centuries. Stuttgart, Metzler 1992, p. 321, ISBN 3476008355 .
• Inge Stephan : "The sublime man Corday" Christine Westphalens drama "Charlotte Corday" (1804) and the Corday cult at the end of the 18th century . In: "You, and not us". The French Revolution and its effect on the Empire . Volume 1. Edited by Arno Herzig , Inge Stephan, Hans G. Winter. Dölling and Galitz, Hamburg 1989 ISBN 3-926174-13-7 , pp. 177-206.

Web links

Commons : Engel Christine Westphalen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

1. ↑ At that time, your father was the largest trade in glass, furniture and porcelain in Hamburg. He died when Engel Christine Westphalen was 15 years old.
2. ↑ * August 11, 1757; † September 3, 1833. In 1809 he became a member of the Hamburg Council.
3. ↑ Ida Westphalen later married the Imperial Russian Colonel von Stephani. Engel Christine Westphalen became the grandmother of six granddaughters.