Women’s History Month 2026 #7 Friederike Westphal

On July 2, 1905, the Seventh-day Adventist congregation in Hamburg bid farewell to an 83-year-old member (Zionswächter, July 17, 1905, vol. 11, no. 14, p. 180). Certainly, her age was exceptionally high for the time, but that was perhaps not the only reason for the numerous expressions of sympathy from members of the church and the general population. It was due to the personality and extraordinary life of Friederike Westphal.
Friederike Westphal (1822-1905) was born in Schleswig, in the far north of what is now Germany. At that time, Schleswig was more Danish than German, which became apparent in the course of her life.
Her middle-class family recognized and encouraged her talent for drawing early on. This was perhaps not unusual for girls and women from good families. But Friederike Westphal was not satisfied with this cultivated domestic pursuit. She wanted to become a real painter, as a profession and a means of earning a living. As a woman in the mid-19th century, this was virtually impossible. But with the support of her parents and family, she was taught in Copenhagen from 1846 onwards as a private pupil of Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (*1783–1853), one of the most important Danish painters of the 19th century. She was also allowed to paint his portrait. Friederike found her calling in portrait painting. Apart from the years 1854 to 1855, when she was a painter at the renowned Royal Porcelain Manufactory, she worked as a freelance artist throughout her life and earned her own living. Her diligence and talent paid off. Not only was she in demand in bourgeois circles in Denmark and northern Germany, but she also had the honor of painting portraits of King Frederik VII of Denmark and Queen Victoria and her daughter-in-law, Alexandra of Denmark, in London. She traveled to Great Britain especially for this purpose, accompanied by her mother. She traveled extensively to visit her customers in Europe. She lived and worked in Dresden, Kassel, Hanover, and Silesia, then returned to Schleswig and Flensburg. During this time, she produced a large number of portraits, as well as the traditional costume series, which are still well known today, all of which are portraits of women.
From around the mid-1880s, she settled in Hamburg. To earn a living, she gave lessons in painting to girls and women. She also submitted paintings to the annual art exhibitions of the Royal Academy in Copenhagen. This was not common for a woman at that time. In older age, she joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Hamburg. She did not stop working. In 1902, a retrospective of her work was held at the Hamburger Kunsthalle. Her “rare talent for capturing the true expression of the soul” was praised.
Unfortunately, both the painter and the person Friederike Westphal have been almost forgotten.