The artist has portrayed the king in the habit of the Order of Charles XIII, which was worn at a masked ball at Ulriksdal Palace in 1859. There, the king worked with the architect Fredrik Wilhelm Scholander to create new interiors in a historicising style for his collections of decorative arts and paintings. Artistic life flourished during his reign, with new influences from Paris, the first female students at the Academy of Fine Arts, scholarships, exhibitions and a lively art trade.