Portrait of Ludwig, Count Palatine, aged Ten

When this portrait was painted in 1549, the sitter, Ludwig, then ten years old, was at the court of Baden in north-west Germany. He later became ruler of the German principality of the Upper Palatinate, and in 1576 succeeded to the title of Elector Palatine as Ludwig VI. This finely painted picture is one of several portraits of German princes executed by Hans Besser, each of whom wears a black cap decorated with gold petals, an oval badge, a gold chain, a hunting whistle and a knife case.