Dorothea Friederike von Schlegel (née Brendel Mendelssohn; 1764 – 1839). German novelist and translator.
She was the oldest daughter of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, a leading figure in the German Enlightenment. In 1783 she married the merchant and banker Simon Veit. Their son, Philipp Veit, would later become part of a circle of German Christian painters called "the Nazarenes," who influenced the English painters in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. She met the poet and critic Friedrich von Schlegel in the salon of her friend Henriette Herz in July 1797, after which Dorothea divorced Simon on 11 January 1799.
Schlegel's novel Lucinde (1799) was seen as an account of their affair, causing a scandal in German literary circles. In 1801 her novel Florentin was published anonymously by Schlegel. Dorothea and Friedrich lived in Paris from 1802 until 1804, and after her divorce they married as Protestants. In 1807 she translated Corinne by Madame de Staël from French.
In 1808, Friedrich and Dorothea converted to Catholicism.
She was the aunt of composer Felix Mendelsshon.
- "Unlike her close friend Henriette Herz, the red-haired Dorothea was neither beautiful nor gracious." https://books.google.it/books?id=YTevtdhK8g4C&pg=PA92...
- "Rahel was downright plain, as was the squat, red-haired Dorothea Mendelssohn." https://books.google.it
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