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Karol Herman de Perthées, primarily known as Karol Perthées, was born to a family of French Huguenots in Dresden on January 14, 1740.

Born as the illegitimate son of Herman Karl von Keyserling, Perthées was named both Herman and Karol, yet he chose to go by the latter throughout his life. His formal education began in military school in Berlin, where he was trained in military engineering.

In 1764, Perthées' was appointed as the court geographer and map-maker to Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last king and Grand Duke of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. During this time, he created a series of 1:225,000 scale maps detailing the provinces of the Republic of Poland. Five of these maps were published in Paris. In 1798 he lectured on cartography for the Russian army in Vilnius

He also produced the Carte hydrographique de Pologne, in 1809.

Apart from his work as a mapmaker, Perthées amassed an impressive collection of insects, meticulously documenting about 2,600 species. These invaluable records became a part of Vilnius University's collection in 1823, which were destroyed during World War II in 1943.

Perthées’ married Józefa, the daughter of the renowned Italian painter Bernardo Bellotto.  After her death in 1789, he married her sister, Teresa,  in 1792.