What happened to Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s only child?

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German dramatist and critic Gotthold Lessing — Gotthold Ephraim Lessing Gotthold Lessing, detail of an oil painting by Georg May, 1768; in the Gleimhaus, Halberstadt, Germany.

In December 1777, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing and his wife, Eva König, had a son, who was their only child. Tragically, the infant died shortly after his birth. Following this loss, Eva König herself passed away the next month.1