Lot Essay
Officer, architect and painter Georg Wenzeslaus Baron von Knobelsdorff was commisioned by Frederick II of Prussia - later Frederick the Great - for several architectural projects such as the Temple garden at Neuruppin (Amalthea Garten), the Frederick palace at Sanssouci at Potsdam and the design of the terraces on the Wine Hill. His most important teacher in painting was his friend Antoine Pesne, the leading painter in Prussia at the time.