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Elizabeth A.Sackler Center for Feminist Art

Anna Sophia

b. 1532, Haderslev, Denmark; d. 1585, Dresden, Germany

This person is more commonly known as ANNA OF SAXONY.

Anna was the daughter of King Christian III of Denmark (ruled 1534–59) and Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenberg. In 1548, she became the electress of Saxony through her marriage to Augustus I. Together, Anna and Augustus enforced a strict form of Lutheranism, and many people were banished. Anna herself was a pioneer in horticulture and agrarian reform. Her patronage of medical practitioners—including lay people and apothecaries—was, in part, an extension of her interest in farming and stock breeding. She established a laboratory on her estate in which to experiment with herbs and plants, creating various veterinarian remedies. She collected and bred plants, conducted botanical studies, and compiled extensive herbariums. An astute businesswoman, she processed and marketed the milk products from her estates.