Carl Gustaf Wrangel was a highly successful officer in the Thirty Years War and was rewarded with titles, offices and wealth. As governor general of Swedish Pomerania, he had extensive interests in Germany, including close connections with the Merian publishing firm in Frankfurt, which served as a clearing house for information and goods. Matthäus Merian the Younger also acted as his “court” painter, producing a series of portraits of the governor general, his family and his contemporaries.