French artists were employed at several of the German courts in the 18th century. Silvestre worked as court painter in the Saxon capital of Dresden for more than three decades, and his portraits of Augustus the Strong set the standard for others. Along with another three paintings, this one was part of a gift to the elector’s Swedish cousin Ulrika Eleonora the Younger. In it, Augustus wears the Order of the White Eagle to emphasise that he was also the king of Poland.