Maurice de Saxe was the illegitimate son of Augustus II of Saxony; he embarked on a career in the Imperial army when he was twelve years’ old. In 1720 he obtained a commission in the French army, in which he served for the rest of his life. He became famous for his exploits at the Battles of Fontenoy (1745), Rocourt (1746) and Lawfeld (1747). He was appointed Marchal of France in 1744 and ‘maréchal général des camps et des armées du roi’ in 1747. In that year he helped to bring about the marriage of his niece, Maria Josepha of Saxony (1731-67), to Louis, Dauphin of France (1729-65).

Liotard, a portrait painter who specialised in pastels and miniatures, was a well-established and cosmopolitan figure. He was born in Geneva and worked in Paris, Italy, Constantinople and Vienna. In the 1740s he had been commissioned to produce portraits of the Empress Maria-Theresa in Vienna, and then in 1749, having been introduced at the French court, portraits of Louis XV and his five daughters. The pastel portrait was extremely popular in the eighteenth century. Although it lacked the grandeur of oil painting, pastel was able to capture subtle tonal qualities; none the less it took an artist of Liotard’s stature to produce the illusion of living flesh.

This is a version of the pastel dated 1766 in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.