Portræt af kong Frederik IV som prins

Hyacinthe Rigaud was the portraitist of the French court at its most magnificent — the painter of the state likeness of Louis XIV in his coronation robes — and his work set the pattern for royal portraiture across Europe. This canvas was made in February 1693, when the future Frederik IV of Denmark was still crown prince, in the years when Rigaud’s combination of grand setting and close observation had made him the most sought-after portraitist of the French court and, through commissions such as this, of allied princes. The picture later passed through the Lerche family, whose name is inscribed on the back, and entered the museum in 1923 as part of the settlement of the Danish entail estates. The painting is held in the Statens Museum for Kunst (National Gallery of Denmark).