Maximiliane Brentano

Maximiliane Brentano was a German woman who is known for her friendship to the young Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and as the mother of the Romantic writers Clemens Brentano and Bettina von Arnim. Born in Mainz, she was the daughter of the Protestant author Sophie von La Roche and the Catholic civil servant and court official Georg Michael Frank von La Roche. From 1771, they lived in Ehrenbreitstein near Koblenz, where her father served at the court of the Electorate of Trier. Her mother published her first novel and became a famous author, and the family residence became a literary salon visited by many notable writers of the era. These visitors included the poets Goethe and Johann Georg Jacobi, both of whom fell in love with Maximiliane, who was described as graceful and charming.