Charlotte Buff

Who was Charlotte Buff?

Charlotte Buff was a youthful acquaintance of the poet Goethe, who fell in love with her. She rejected him and instead married Johann Christian Kestner, a diplomat and art collector. In Goethe's novel The Sorrows of Young Werther, the character of Lotte is in part based on her. Their relationship was characterized by heartiness and lack of constraint. Goethe bought the wedding rings for her and Kestner, in Frankfurt am Main. Charlotte Kestner had four daughters and eight sons, among them August Kestner.