Ludvig XV, 1710-1774, konung av Frankrike

Van Loo's Swedish portrait of Louis XV, in the National Portrait Gallery of Sweden and undated, represents the circulation of royal portrait images through the European diplomatic network of the mid-eighteenth century. Swedish court collections systematically acquired portraits of ruling monarchs across Europe as part of the visual diplomacy that accompanied political and commercial relations, and a French royal portrait would have been particularly valuable during the periods of Franco-Swedish political alignment that characterized the early and mid-eighteenth century. The Swedish title of the work—using the Swedish form of the king's name—indicates the portrait entered the Swedish collection with official status rather than as a private acquisition. Van Loo's reputation as the most accomplished portraitist of the French-Spanish Bourbon world made his images of Louis XV the standard visual currency for representing the French king to foreign courts, and this work would have served that representational function whatever its specific occasion of creation.

As an undated work, the precise period of van Loo's technique is uncertain, but the Swedish portrait would follow the established format of his Louis XV state portraits: full formal court dress, royal regalia, formal setting. The specific combination of textiles, decorations, and compositional arrangement would help specialists date the work relative to his other royal portraits of the king at different ages.