A half-length portrait of Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1697-1764), standing, facing half to the left; wearing a cuirass, over which is an ermine-lined crimson mantle with the star and riband of the Polish Order of the White Eagle; plain background

The sitter was the fourth son of John Ernest IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the third born by his father's second wife Charlotte Johanna of Waldeck-Wildungen. He was the great-great-grandfather of both Prince Albert and Queen Victoria. After the deaths of his two older brothers in 1720, he was the second in line in the succession of the duchy, preceded only by his older half-brother, Christian Ernest. In spite of his claim to the sole inheritance, after Christian Ernest married unequally in 1724, his father's will compelled him to rule jointly with his half-brother. After the latter's death in 1745, he ruled as sole Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

In addition to several engraved portraits of the sitter, the Royal Collection has a painting of him in later years; RCIN 406425.