"This miniature is the author's own replica of the miniature portrait in the collection of the Royal House Hessen Museum "Schloss Fasanerie" in Hesse, Germany (see our image nr. 6). Both replicas were executed in 1792 / early 1793 by German miniaturist Johann Friedrich Tielker, working then at the court of Darmstadt, and show the first wife of future King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, Princess Augusta Wilhelmine Maria Pia of Hesse-Darmstadt (1765-1796; see images nr. 7-13 with her biography and several other portraits of her).

Johann Friedrich Tielker (1763 Brunswick (Braunschweig) - 1832 ibidem) originally made silhouettes but gradually became a miniaturist. He worked in Celle (1784), Münster, Osnabrück, Hanover, Aachen (1768/88), Bremen, Hamburg, Lübeck, etc. In late 1789 he returned to Brunswick but, already in 1790, went back to Frankfurt via Magdeburg, Leipzig and Gotha. Tielker stayed in Frankfurt until 1792 (in that year he was also present at the coronation of Holy Roman Emperor Franz II that took place in this city; there he made acquaintances with many important individuals who were to become his future clients). In late 1792 he was already a court artist in Darmstadt. There he portrayed (among others) Princess Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who later became Queen of Prussia, and her sister, Princess Friederike. In 1793 he was in Mainz during its occupation by the French. In the same year, by invitation of (then already) Prussian Crown Princess Luise (née Mecklenburg-Strelitz) Tielker came to work at Berlin Court, where he remained for several years. In 1802, he travelled to Riga via Königsberg. In March 1804 he arrived in St. Petersburg, where he soon received numerous portrait commissions. There he became especially celebrated for his panoramic view of the Russian capital produced by him in watercolour. From Russia Tielker moved (he was attached to diplomatic delegation as panoramic draughtsman) to China but already in 1806 could be traced as travelling to Moscow from Mitau and Riga. In Moscow he similarly went on to produce a panoramic view of the city. In 1810 he left Russia for a short while and returned to Berlin. Briefly afterwards he went back to Riga, where he made a project of a building and interior decorations for the local theatre. In 1813 the artist settled in St. Petersburg from where he occasionally visited Berlin and other German places. He also made trips to Moscow, Prague, Vienna and Carlsbad (1823). In 1826 he returned to his native Brunswick and remained there (with an exception of a brief sojourn in Riga in 1828) up until his death.