Carl Fredrik von Breda painted four full-length portraits of the speakers of the estates of the nobility, clergy, burghers and peasants. They are tangible reminders of Sweden’s Diet of Estates, which was established in the late Middle Ages and would survive until the system of representation was reformed in 1866. Lars Olsson was Speaker of the Peasant Estate at five Diets, beginning in 1809. His actions were marked by loyalty to the government, sometimes at the expense of his own estate’s interests.