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August the Strong – Elector of Saxony and King of Poland – dominates this room. He captures your eye as soon as you walk in. He himself, however, appears to be gazing past the golden coffee service – at his court jeweller, Johann Melchior Dinglinger, whose portrait hangs at the entrance to this room.

Here, the court painter Louis de Silvestre shows us the man who ruled Saxony for almost forty years and left an enduring legacy. On the death of his brother in 1694, August became – quite unexpectedly – Elector of Saxony. Three years later, he was crowned King of Poland – but not before converting to Catholicism. That was quite something for a ruler of Protestant Saxony to do!

This portrait shows August about 1723, at the height of his political power. He was absorbed at the time with plans for his Green Vault, the royal vault in the Residential Palace that would house precious objects reflecting his power and wealth.

He posed for his court painter in a French-style allonge wig, like the one made fashionable by his great role-model, Louis the Fourteenth of France – the Sun King. Underneath his red jacket, his long embroidered waistcoat is opened slightly – to reveal, as if by chance, Poland’s White Eagle Order with its glittering star. Together with August’s buttons, braids and buckles, they form part of the so-called Diamond Rose Jewellery. Some of it has survived, and is displayed in the Green Vault.

The artist, Louis de Silvestre, came to Dresden from France in 1719, and lived here for more than thirty years. As court painter, he received the most notable members of the royal household in his home and painted their portraits.