Niclas Lafrensen

Active in Paris and Stockholm, Lafrensen is considered one of the chief European miniaturist of the second half of the 18th century.

[2] He chose to represent realistic topics in painting, as opposed to subjects relating to the antique world.

[2] He is said to have become exasperated that he had been passed over by his professors, and that was the reason he left Sweden in 1774 and re-settled in Paris, where for 17 years worked as an artist under the name Lavreince.

In 1791 Lafrensen was forced to leave France during the French Revolution, and came home to Sweden and painted a portrait of (now) King Gustav III shortly before his death.

Lafrensen is represented in a number of Swedish and foreign museums, including a dozen of his works at The Louvre.