Christian IX of Denmark with his family

Laurits Tuxen's 'Christian IX of Denmark with his Family' (1886) is a royal family portrait in the tradition of dynastic group portraiture — Christian IX's extraordinary dynastic position (his children married into the royal families of Britain, Russia, and Greece, earning him the title 'father-in-law of Europe') made his family an unusually significant subject for European dynastic portraiture. Tuxen became the premier royal portraitist of his era precisely through commissions like this — the Danish royal family's European connections bringing him into contact with virtually every major European court. The group portrait required organizing the royal family's many members into a coherent compositional and hierarchical arrangement.

Tuxen renders the royal group with the compositional and technical command required for multi-figure state portraiture — each member of the royal family individualized within the group's overall hierarchical arrangement, with Christian IX and his Queen as the central figures. His handling of the formal dress and court setting reflects his command of the genre. The challenge of making a large group of individually important people cohere as a composition required both technical mastery and diplomatic skill in their arrangement.