Frederick V, King of Bohemia (1596–1632)

Frederick V, Elector Palatine and briefly King of Bohemia (1596–1632), was one of the most tragic figures of the Thirty Years War: his brief acceptance of the Bohemian Crown in 1619 led to the catastrophic defeat at the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 and a lifetime of exile. Honthorst painted this portrait in 1631, just a year before Frederick's death in 1632, when the exiled king was at The Hague under the protection of his brother-in-law, the English King Charles I. The Government Art Collection holds the work, reflecting its significance as a document of Stuart court politics and the Stuart dynasty's connection to the Palatinate cause. Honthorst was Frederick's regular portraitist in exile, and the paintings he produced for the exiled Bohemian court constitute an important visual record of the Protestant cause in the Thirty Years War.

Oil on canvas in the court portrait format. Honthorst presents Frederick in regal but somewhat subdued dress — the Garter badge and formal costume assert royal dignity, but the manner is less triumphalist than earlier portraits before the 1620 defeat. The face is modelled with careful attention to the sitter's specific features, not idealised.