Peter Anton Brentano

Peter Anton Brentano (right), his wife Maximiliane and their mother Sophie La Roche (left)

The house at the Golden Head in the Große Sandgasse

Pietro Antonio Brentano , called Peter Anton , (born September 19, 1735 in Tremezzo , Duchy of Milan , † March 9, 1797 in Frankfurt am Main ) was a German merchant and diplomat. In his time he was considered one of the most successful merchants in the city of Frankfurt.

Life

Brentano came from a branch of the Lombard aristocratic family Brentano , the Brentano-Tremezzo line, which has been documented in the Como area since the 13th century . In 1698 Domenico Brentano di Tremezzo relocated the headquarters of his Milan trading company to Frankfurt am Main in the Nuremberg court . Pietro Antonio was his grandson, the son of Domenico Martino Brentano (1686–1755) and Maria Elisabetha, geb. Brentano-di Riatti (1700-1736).

Until 1753 he was a partner in the company Domenico Brentano & Sons founded by his grandfather , then he founded his own trading company in the Nuremberg court. In 1777 he bought the Golden Head house in Grosse Sandgasse. Appointed Privy Councilor and resident of the Free Imperial City of Frankfurt under the Elector of Trier Clemens Wenzeslaus of Saxony , he became general collector of the finances of the Kurheinische Kreis in 1785 and then lived most of the time at the court of the Elector in Koblenz . He played the violin and wrote poems in Italian, but probably spoke only broken German until his death.

Brentano was married three times and had a total of 20 children, 14 of whom reached adulthood. After the death of his second wife Maximiliane in 1793, he handed over his business to his sons Franz and Georg and retired completely to Koblenz, the royal seat of the Electorate of Trier. There he married a third time, this time Friederike von Rottenhof (1771-1817), with whom he fathered two children, both of whom died early.

progeny

Children from first marriage to Paula Maria Josefa Walpurga Brentano-Gnosso (1744–1770)

1. Anton Maria Brentano (1763-1833)
2. Franz Dominicus Josef Maria Brentano (1765–1844) - married in 1798 to Johanna Antonia Josepha von Birckenstock (Antonie Brentano, 1780–1869). The business of the family company was transferred to Franz because his father was overburdened. After the death of his father, he became head of the family. He was the owner of the so-called Brentano house in Winkel im Rheingau , a summer house of his in-laws.
3. Maria Josefa (1767-1770)
4. Peter Anton Ludwig Brentano (1768–1788)
5. Dominicus Martin Franz Carl Brentano (1769–1825), Dr.jur, a so-called black sheep of the family, drunkard and womanizer
6. Paula Maria Walpurga Brentano (1770–1805) married in 1800 to Johann Wilhelm von Wasmer

Children from second marriage to Maximiliane von La Roche (1756–1793), friend of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe . She died six months after giving birth to her twelfth child in 1793.

Petri house in Rödelheim

1. Georg Brentano (1775–1851), Frankfurt banker, builder of the Brentano Park in Frankfurt-Rödelheim with Petrihaus . For his then 18-year-old favorite niece Maximiliane (1802–1861), when he was 70, he had a pavilion built from the finest materials in his summer residence. This summer house ("Der liebe Maxe") was renovated in 2006.
2. Maria Sophie Therese called Sophie (1776–1800), died young and buried in Oßmannstedt , the estate of Christoph Martin Wieland .
3. Clemens Brentano (1778–1842), more precisely Clemens Wenzeslaus Brentano, was a German romantic writer. His godfather was the Elector of Trier Clemens Wenzeslaus of Saxony . Brentano was u. a. married to Sophie Mereau (1770–1806)
4. Kunigunde Maria Ludovica Catharina Brentano , called Gunda (1780–1863), married in 1804 to Friedrich Carl von Savigny , Prussian Minister
5. Maria Francisca Catharina (March 3, 1782 - June 5, 1785)
6. Christian Franz Damian Friedrich (1784–1851), writer, married to Emilie Genger
7. Elisabeth Catharina Ludovica Magdalena Brentano , called Bettine (1785–1859), German writer - married to Achim von Arnim (1781–1831)
8. Maria Ludovica Katharina Brentano , called Lulu (1787-1854), married the banker Carl Jordis in 1805, who settled in Kassel in 1806 and bought a city apartment and Schönfeld Palace there, which he had to sell on to King Jérôme in 1809 . After her divorce, she married Richard Peter von Rosier des Bordes from Brussels in 1827 .
9. Magdalena Maria Caroline Francisca Brentano , called Meline (1788–1861), was married to Georg Friedrich von Guaita (1772–1851), who was mayor of the city of Frankfurt am Main several times.
10. Caroline Ludovica Ernestine (born January 29, 1790 - † September 23, 1791)
11. Anna Maria Francisca Ludovica (born September 20, 1791 - † April 26, 1792)
12. Susanna Philippine Francisca Ludovica (May 11, 1793 - September 2, 1793)

Children from 3rd marriage with Anna "Friederike" Freiin von Rottenhoff (1771–1817)

1. Friedrich Karl Franz (born July 29, 1796, † August 5, 1796)
2. Franz Peter (* July 20, 1797, † September 7, 1813) died in the Battle of Dennewitz near Jüterbog .

Varia

In 1792/93 the seriously wounded relative, Major General Anton Joseph von Brentano-Cimaroli (1741–1793), who also died there and was buried with great honors in the Frankfurt Cathedral , was cared for in the family's Frankfurt house .

literature

• Wolfgang Klötzer (Hrsg.): Frankfurter Biographie . Personal history lexicon . First volume. A – L (=  publications of the Frankfurt Historical Commission . Volume XIX , no. 1 ). Waldemar Kramer, Frankfurt am Main 1994, ISBN 3-7829-0444-3 .