She was born to Baron Carl Christoph von Imhoff and Luise Schardt, the niece of Charlotte von Stein. In 1791, she was introduced to the court of Charles Augustus, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach in Weimar, where she belonged to the court of Charles' mother Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. She was given a good artistic education and was encouraged by Goethe and Schiller to write poems.