(King Christian V of Denmark)

Jacobus Houbraken after Carl van Mander
(King Christian V of Denmark)
Christiaan de Vierde, Konig van Denemarken, Noorwegen, en der Wandaalen en Gothen, &c. &c.
(Amsterdam, c. 1730)
Copper engraving
200x155mm
Trimmed close to top margin
£75
A small, delicately executed, half length portrait of King Christian V (1646-99) of Denmark, Norway, the Wends and the Goths (this title was dropped by the present Queen upon her accession). With an enormous beaky nose, he sits directed to the left, staring sternly out, wearing a doublet and lace collar and Order of the Elephant. Christian was the son of Frederick III, whom he succeeded in 1670. Popular with the common people, he fortified the absolute monarchy against the aristocracy by accelerating his father’s practice of allowing Holstein nobles and Danish commoners into state service. To accommodate them, Christian V created the new noble ranks of count and baron. His greatest blunder was the Scanian War (1676-79) against Sweden, which exhausted Denmark without making any real gains. He died in a hunting accident.