Illness and Death
In 1753 Knobelsdorff's long-time liver disease became more troublesome. A journey to the Belgian therapeutic baths at Spa brought no relief. On September 7, 1753, only a short while before his death, Knobelsdorff wrote to the king, "when the pain briefly stopped". He thanked him "for all the kindness and all the benefits Your Majesty has showered on me during my lifetime". At the same time he requested that his two daughters be recognized as his legal heirs. That was problematic because the girls came from a liaison not befitting his social class. The long-time bachelor Knobelsdorff had entered into a relationship with the "middle class" daughter of the Charlottenburg sacristan, Schöne, in 1746, thereby earning the disapproval of court society. Frederick II agreed to his request, however with the restriction that his title of nobility not be bequeathed.
Knobelsdorff died on September 16, 1753. Two days later the Berlinische Nachrichten reported, "On the 16th of this month the honorable gentleman, Mr. George Wentzel, Baron of Knobelsdorff, artistic director of all royal palaces, houses and gardens, director-in-chief of all construction in all provinces, as well as finance, war and domain councillor, departed this life after a prolonged illness in the 53rd year of his renowned existence." On September 18 he was buried in the vault of the German Church on Gendarmenmarkt. Four years later his friend Antoine Pesne was buried next to him. When the church was rebuilt in 1881 these mortal remains were transferred to one of the cemeteries at Hallisches Tor; his grave was marked with a marble slab and a putto. This gravesite was destroyed by a bomb in World War II. Today a simple white marble memorial on an honorary grave of the State of Berlin in Cemetery No. 1 of the Jerusalem and New Church congregation brings to mind Knobelsdorff and Pesne.
Read more about this topic: Georg Wenzeslaus Von Knobelsdorff
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