In 1710, Pesne was called to
Berlin by King
Frederick I in
Prussia. The king had seen and liked a painting of a German nobleman Pesne had completed in Venice and wanted Pesne to complete a study of himself. Upon the death of the king in 1713, Pesne worked in the courts of
Dresden and
Dessau, and later visited
London and
Paris, where he was made a full member of the
Académie Royale in 1720. While there, he painted the a portrait of a well-known collector
Pierre-Jean Mariette in 1723. Mariette had extensive international connections with other artists and, importantly, with patrons. In 1734,
Frederick the Great, having been reinstated as crown prince in 1731 by his father,
Frederick William I, took up residence in Rheinsberg. Frederick William himself had little use for painting and art for its own sake; he was far more interested in soldiers, soldiering, and building the army. He did, however, appoint Pesne as director of the
Prussian Academy of Arts in 1732. At that point, Pesne became famous for his portraits of the Prussian royal family and their households. Among his most famous is his portrait of Frederick William,
The Soldier King, (1733). Many of his portraits hang in Berlin museums and in
Charlottenburg Palace. These include (among others) his portraits of the first two kings in Prussia, Frederick I and Frederick William I, members of the royal family, and of lady-in-waiting
Eleonore von Schlieben. In St. Agnus Church in
Köthen, where
J. S. Bach was music director (
Kapellmeister), there is a portrait of the donor
Gisela Agnes, Princess of
Anhalt-Köthen, painted by Pesne in 1713. The ceiling paintings in Charlottenburg,
Rheinsberg, and
Sanssouci Palaces are at least partially his work. In 1746 Pesne received from King Frederick II property and construction material to erect a house at Oberwallstraße 3 in Berlin, where he lived until his death in 1757. His grave is preserved in the
Protestant Friedhof I der Jerusalems- und Neuen Kirchengemeinde (Cemetery No. I of the congregations of
Jerusalem's Church and
New Church) in
Berlin-Kreuzberg, south of
Hallesches Tor. ==Style and influence==