Portrait of Frederik Christian Krag (1726-1763)

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Artist: Louis Tocqué (French, 1696–1772)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Size: 121.8 × 96 cm
Museum: SMK – National Gallery of Denmark
Rights: Public Domain Mark

In keeping with Rococo fashions, the artist has portrayed Frederik Christian Krag wearing a tight-fitting waistcoat and jacket, lace frills and a powdered wig with a short ponytail tied back by a silk ribbon. Specialising in portraits, the French painter Louis Tocqué was invited to Denmark by king Frederik V to contribute to the decoration of Christiansborg Palace.

But the king was not the only one to benefit from the French artist’s talents; members of the aristocracy did the same. Toqué received commissions from several prominent members of the state administration, including Christian Krag. In the paternal line Krag was the last scion of an old noble Jutland family. Egeskov Palace on Funen was among the family’s many estates, and the portrait was part of its collection until 1985.