David von Krafft: Portrait of King Charles XII of Sweden (1707)

(Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, Sweden)

A painting by the German-Swedish artist David von Krafft (1655-1724). Charles XII (1682-1718) was the son of king Charles XI of Sweden and Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark and an exceptionally skilled military leader and tactician as well as an able politician. Charles XII succeeded his father in 1697 at the young age of 15 when his father died after an illness. Sensing an opportunity as Sweden was ruled by the young king Charles XII, an alliance of Denmark–Norway, Saxony and Russia declared war on the Swedish Empire in 1700 and launched a threefold attack on the Swedish Empire (compromising modern Sweden, Finland and parts of Northern Germany, Norway, Russia and the Baltic states), starting the Great Northern war (1700-1721). Charles XII however managed to defeat his opponents and launched a counter-offensive. In 1709 the main Swedish army was defeated at the battle of Poltava against the Russians, starting the rise of Russia as an European power. Charles XII himself was killed at the siege of Fredriksten in 1718 by stray grapeshot. As Charles XII was almost exclusively on campaign throughout his reign he did not marry. He was succeeded his sister, Ulrika Eleonora. Painting from 1707.