For a long time in the mid 18th century, Carl Gustaf Pilo was synonymous with Danish portraiture. When he accepted Gustav III’s offer of the newly established Order of Vasa, however, it was seen as a disloyal act. Pilo was banished from Denmark, although in Sweden he was held in great esteem and became director of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Pilo consequently had to paint this portrait of his former master Christian VII, intended for the Round Drawing Room at Gripsholm, from memory in his studio in Nyköping.