One of a set of four small portraits on copper of two of the sons of George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Calenburg and Anne Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt and their wives (RCINs 401390-3). They are first recorded in the Privy Chamber at Kensington Palace in 1818, without attribution or identification, with ‘curious’ added as a remark.

The sitter is the third son of George, Duke of Brunswick, and uncle of George I; he ruled over the principality of Calenberg from 1665 until his death. He is portrayed as a Roman commander, a manner in which the Dukes of the House of Brunswick often chose to be presented in large-portraits in oils.

The portraits are attributed to Jean Michelin, whose miniatures form part of a group of portraits of the ancestors of the Hanoverian monarchs in the Royal Collection. The artist is said to have been born in Langres, France, and died in Jersey. He became a member of the Académie Royale in 1668 and worked for the Hanoverian court from 1668 until 1686. An engraving of the sitter by Robert Nanteuil, after Jean Michelin, dated 1674, is in the National Gallery of Art, Washington. A miniature in the style of Michelin is in the Royal Collection (RCIN 420633).