Friederike Brun (1765–1835)

Friederike Brun, née Münter, was born in Gräfentonna, Thuringia, Germany. Her father was a clergyman and writer who moved the family to Denmark soon after her birth to take a position as a minister at St. Peter's Church in Copenhagen. It was an intellectual household that received frequent visits from German and Danish writers. Her father arranged to have her early poems and travel writing published as early as 1782. In 1783, at the age of 17, she married Constantin Brun, a wealthy merchant. She traveled extensively between 1789 and 1810, at times in the company of Princess Louisa of Anhalt-Dessau, wife of Duke Leopold III. She met and befriended many leading European artists and writers, including Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, August Wilhelm Schlegel, Wilhelm Grimm, and Madame de Staël, with whom she formed a close friendship. They were featured prominently in her travel writings. After a long residence in Italy, she spent the rest of her life in Copenhagen. She also presided over famous salons held in in Copenhagen, Geneva, and Rome.