Catharina Treu
Catharina Treu (21 May 1743 – 11 October 1811) was a German still life painter, and court painter for Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria in 1769. Treu was born in Bamberg in a family of painters. She was taught to paint along with her brothers and sisters by their father, Joseph Marquard Treu, in Bamberg.
Also recorded as Catharina Trey · Catharina Konig-Treu · Katharina Treu · Catharina König
Catharina Treu

Catharina Treu / Johann Nikolaus Treu · Public domain
- Name
- Catharina Treu
- Born
- 21 May 1743
- Birthplace
- Bamberg
- Died
- 11 October 1811
- Place of death
- Mannheim
- Nationality
- Kingdom of Bavaria
- Occupation
- painter · artist · cartoonist · illustrator · university teacher
- Fields
- visual arts · painting · art of drawing · still life
- Languages
- German
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Catharina Treu (21 May 1743 – 11 October 1811) was a German still life painter, and court painter for Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria in 1769. Treu was born in Bamberg in a family of painters. She was taught to paint along with her brothers and sisters by their father, Joseph Marquard Treu, in Bamberg.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Catharina Treu. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q46998167 · wikipedia · Catharina Treu
In this article
Biography
Biography
She became a local celebrity for her copies of 17th-century still life paintings and was selected by the Prince-Bishop of Bamberg, Adam Friedrich von Seinsheim, to paint a few overdoors for his Würzburg Residence in 1762. This caused her work to become more widely known and she received a commission for overdoors in Schloss Bruchsal in 1766. In the same year she followed the move of the court of Charles Theodore to Schloss Benrath in Düsseldorf where she was appointed the first female teacher under Lambert Krahe at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.
The recorded working language is German. The field of work recorded is visual arts, painting and art of drawing. Places of work recorded in the authority are Düsseldorf. Positions recorded include court painter and professor. Work by Catharina Treu is recorded in the collections of Bavarian State Painting Collections, Landesmuseum Mainz, Historical Museum Bamberg and Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Catharina Treu • Born — 21 May 1743 • Birthplace — Bamberg • Died — 11 October 1811 • Place of death — Mannheim
Copies
Copies
• Illustration — Copy by Treu, 1760s? • Illustration — Original by Abraham Mignon, c.1670 In 1769 she received the court painter title of cabinet painter for Charles Theodore's second residence at Mannheim Palace. When he moved to Munich, she remained in Düsseldorf where she married Jakob Konig in 1781. After this period several of her paintings are listed in inventories as by Mme König. Due to the bombing and other war damage to installed paintings by her hand in various buildings, her works today are mostly known from archives and inventories, though she died a notable resident of Mannheim.
Works
Works
She is best known for her works in series, often produced as overdoors in large palaces. Here is a pair of pendants that came into the collection of the Margraves and Granddukes of Baden in 1803. Dated 1768, they were possibly painted for the palace in Mannheim. • Illustration — A woman with a bird on the indexfinger of the right hand, 1786 • Illustration — Sumptuous table with fruit and covered beaker, 1768 • Illustration — Sumptuous table with fruit and silverware, 1768
Identity and overview
Identity and overview
The following is established of the heading itself.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Bamberg.
Birth place
Mannheim.
Death place
Primary material
Documents and archives
scholarly publication
- Treu, Catharina or Katherine, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011
Scholarly · Crossref registry · 2011
Institutional database
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q46998167: Catharina Treu
Scholarly · Wikimedia Foundation
reference work
- “Catharina Treu”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
scholarly publication
Treu, Catharina or Katherine, Benezit Dictionary of Artists, 2011Crossref registry
Institutional witnessInstitutional database
Wikidata, structured authority record Q46998167: Catharina TreuWikimedia Foundation
Institutional witnessreference work
Secondary witness
People, houses and institutions
Knowledge graph
People, houses and institutions
Teachers, collaborators, publishers and institutions recorded against this person, each on a stated basis.
Born at
1- BambergPlace
Established from a fact already recorded on a verified source.
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
This entry is compiled from 4 catalogued sources across 4 independent registers. The registers consulted are Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, Crossref registry and Internet Archive. Every statement above is held against the register that stated it; where the registers are silent, the entry is silent.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Comics and comic art
9,920 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Catch These Hands!Series
- Catel MullerArtist
- CatenaccioSeries
- Cath JacksonArtist
- Catherine MeurisseArtist
- CathySeries
- Cathy GuisewiteArtist
- CattivikSeries
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Catharina Treu?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.