Prinzessin Karoline Luise von Hessen-Darmstadt, c. 1745
Princess Caroline Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt (German: Karoline Luise 11 July 1723 - 8 April 1783) is the current consort of the ruling Margrave, Charles Frederick. Mostly renowned for being a artist, scientist, collector and salonist
Biography
The only daughter of Landgrave Louis XIII of Hesse-Darmstadt and Countess Charlotte of Hanau, she would later marry on the 28th of January, 1751, to Margrave Charles Frederick of Baden-Durlach.
She is described as learned, spoke five languages, corresponded with Voltaire and made Karlsruhe to a cultural centre in Germany where she counted Johann Gottfried von Herder, Johann Caspar Lavater, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, Christoph Willibald Gluck and Christoph Martin Wieland among her guests. She was a member of Markgräflich Baden court orchestra and the Danish Academy of Fine Arts, draw, painted in water colours and had a laboratory set up in the Karlsruhe palace. Carl von Linné named Glückskastanie Carolinea Princeps L. after her, and Friedrich Wilhelm von Leysser was hired to gather plants for her. She supported herself and managed a soap- and candle-factory. Her health was ruined by a fall in 1779, and she died by a stroke during a trip with her son.
Her collections were the foundation of the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe and the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe.
Issue
- Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden (14 February 1755 - 16 December 1801) married Princess Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt, had issue
- Prince Frederick of Baden (29 August 1756 - 28 May 1801) married Louise of Nassau-Usingen
- Louis I of Baden, Grand Duke of Baden (9 February 1763 - 30 March 1830)
- Stillborn son (29 July 1764)
- Princess Louise Augutse of Baden-Durlach (8 January 1767 - 11 January 1767)
Caroline Louise with her sons Charles Louis and Frederick. Painting by Joseph Melling c. 1757