Heinrich Lessing
German, 1856-1930
Follow
Heinrich Lessing was a German portrait and landscape painter.
As the youngest son, he was initially a pupil of his father, the history painter Carl Friedrich Lessing. He then attended the art school in Karlsruhe (1875-1879), followed by the art academy in Berlin (1879-1882) under Karl Gussow. He also undertook study trips to Holland and Belgium. He subsequently worked as a freelance artist. He was regularly represented at exhibitions from 1881 to 1911.
Through his father and grandfather, the lawyer and politician Carl Friedrich Lessing, he was a direct relative of Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. His brother Otto Lessing was a well-known sculptor, craftsman and painter of the imperial era, while another brother, Konrad Lessing (1852-1916), also worked as a painter. His sister Bertha Lessing (1844-1914) married the actor Karl Ferdinand Koberstein. Their son Hans Koberstein also became a painter. A cousin of the Lessing brothers, Malvine Schroedter (1847-1901), daughter of Adolph Schroedter, married the painter and academy president in Berlin Anton von Werner.
Heinrich Lessing found his final resting place in the Südwestkirchhof Stahnsdorf cemetery. His cousin Kammergerichtsrat Friedrich Müller, one of the co-owners of the Vossische Zeitung, and his family also rest in this cemetery. His mausoleum was transferred to Stahnsdorf in 1939 in the course of the liquidation of the Old St. Matthew's Churchyard in Berlin-Schöneberg, which was carried out by the General Building Inspector for the "World Capital Germania" Albert Speer. The tombstone of Marie Friederike Lessing, née Voss (1752-1828), sister-in-law of the poet Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, was also kept in this mausoleum until it was recovered by the cemetery administration.
