Fredrick William (the “Great Elector”) commissioned numerous portraits of himself during the forty-eight years he ruled Brandenburg (r. 1640-88). The portrait below was executed roughly halfway through his reign when Frederick William’s once youthful figure had assumed the portly proportions of middle age. He appears as Scipio, the Roman general who defeated Hannibal in the Second Punic War.
Source: Frederick Wilhelm as Scipio, ascribed to Albert van der
Eeckhout, c. 1660.
bpk-Bildagentur, image number 00010255. For
rights inquiries, please contact Art Resource at requests@artres.com
(North America) or bpk-Bildagentur at kontakt@bpk-bildagentur.de (for
all other countries).
bpk / Hermann Buresch