Caroline Bardua was born in
Ballenstedt,
Anhalt-Bernburg. She was the daughter of Johann Adam Bardua, the valet of
Alexius Frederick Christian, Duke of Anhalt-Bernburg, and Sophie Sabine Kirchner. Her first art instruction came from 1805 to 1807 under Hans Heinrich Meyer in
Weimar. In Weimar she was also an acquaintance of the author
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, whose portrait she drew. From 1808 to 1811 she, together with Louise Seidler, was a student of
Gerhard von Kügelgen in
Dresden. In his workshop she and other students produced copies of paintings. She also became acquainted with
Anton Graff and the then unknown
Caspar David Friedrich. After the end of her apprenticeship with Kügelgen, Caroline and her sister, the singer Wilhelmine Bardua, traveled together to Paris and Frankfurt. In 1819 the two sisters, who remained unmarried for their entire lives, arrived in Berlin, where they led a Salon. One of the guests was the poet
August Friedrich Ernst Langbein. At first Caroline's work was much in demand in Berlin, but that situation soon changed for the worse. An exhibit in 1822, in which Caroline's works were shown together with works by
Friedrich Wilhelm Schadow, was one of the main causes of her downfall. Her portraits of
Princess Alexandrine of Prussia, the prince and other family members were harshly criticized in comparison with paintings by Schadow, who unlike Bardua had received academic training. In 1827 the two sisters had to give up their residence in Berlin for financial reasons. They then led an itinerant lifestyle, frequently moving between small cities such as
Heidelberg or
Krefeld, avoiding any competition. Both of the sisters continued to live together. After the death of Caroline in 1864 Wilhelmine published a biography of her sister and then died a year later in 1865. The biography,
Das Jugendleben der Malerin Caroline Bardua was first published posthumously in 1874. ==Work==