King Gustav III of Sweden and his Brothers

Three brothers of the Swedish royal house stand close together in a shallow space: the future Gustav III seated at the left in his coronation mantle, Duke Karl at the right, and Prince Fredrik Adolf standing between them, his head forming the apex of the composition’s triangle. Gustav and Fredrik Adolf reached Paris in February 1771 to sit for Roslin, who painted the three princes separately before combining them in this single canvas; while he worked, word arrived from Stockholm that King Adolf Fredrik had died, which makes this the first royal portrait of Gustav III as king. Alexander Roslin had left Sweden for the continent as a young man and had become one of the most sought-after portraitists in Paris, where he signed this picture; he painted the Swedish court, the French aristocracy and Catherine the Great’s circle. The canvas remained in Gustav III’s own collection until his death in 1792 and passed with the royal collections to the museum in 1866. The painting is held in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.