Katharina Abesch
Born in Sursee (Switzerland) on 20 December 1660.
Died in Sursee (Switzerland) on 1 April 1690.
Swiss · Late seventeenth-century reverse-glass painting · the Abesch family of Sursee.
Katharina Abesch (Sursee, 20 December 1660 – Sursee, 1 April 1690) was a Swiss reverse-glass painter active in her native town. Also recorded as Katharina Ab Esch, Abäsch and Vonesch, she belonged to the Abesch family of artists and was the sister of Johann Peter Abesch.
Her activity belongs to the first generation of this Sursee dynasty, whose history is associated with the development of reverse-glass painting in Central Switzerland from the late seventeenth through the eighteenth century. In this technique, paint is applied to the back of the glass and the composition is viewed through its transparent support.
Katharina must be distinguished from Anna Barbara Abesch (1706–1773), Johann Peter’s daughter and a member of the following generation. Anna Barbara’s works and documented museum holdings do not constitute Katharina’s oeuvre. Georg Staffelbach’s studies of the Abesch family and Lucerne reverse-glass painting provide the historical framework for understanding this family practice.