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There’s an air of self-confidence in the way this woman gazes out at the observer. She’s wearing a very low-cut dress beneath a blue velvet mantle trimmed with ermine. This is Anna Constantia, later Imperial Countess of Cosel, probably the best-known of August the Strong’s lovers.

His amorous adventures are the stuff of legend, but in fact the alleged goings-on involving mistresses were commonplace at all the courts of European kings and princes. Indeed, they were virtually an essential feature of a glamorous court. Most sovereigns kept one or more mistresses in addition to their wives, and the ladies were quite officially provided with an annual income as well as receiving generous gifts.

Sometimes, the mistresses were superb hostesses and the focus of life at court. One such was Anna Constantia, who was installed as the king’s official mistress in 1706 and later bore him three children. She exercised considerable political influence at court.

At the very beginning of their relationship, Anna Constantia had persuaded the king to issue a document in which – following the custom at the courts of Denmark and France – he acknowledged her as a "légitime épouse" – in other words, a legitimate spouse. It’s what was known as a morganatic marriage. That status made her unique among the king’s mistresses.

With that contractual agreement, Anna Constantia had officially become August the Strong’s second wife. That gave her the right to be portrayed wearing a royal robe trimmed with ermine. The king in turn ensured her elevation to the rank of Imperial Countess of Cosel. He gave her Pillnitz Palace and Taschenberg Palace. However, she increasingly interfered in the king’s political affairs, so in 1713, he broke off their liaison. Drama ensued.

Anna Constantia refused to give up her newly acquired privileges, or to hand over the respective documents. So August the Strong banished her to Stolpen Castle, some 25 kilometres or 15 miles east of Dresden. By then, the king had already moved on to a new mistress: Maria Magdalena, who was a von Dönhoff by marriage. Her portrait is hanging on the same wall as the portrait of Anna Constantia.

Countess Cosel remained at Stolpen Castle until the end of her life. She died in 1765 at the age of 84.