Finding legitimacy - Ulrik Christian Gyldenløve, by Abraham Wuchters, 1645

 

Ulrik Christian Gyldenløve (7 April 1630 - 11 December 1658), the illegitimate child of Christian IV of Denmark and his chambermaid and mistress Vibeke Kruse. Though his illegitimacy precluded any royal status, the surname Gyldenløve - ”Golden Lion" - acknowledged his parentage. (Christian IV had at least five illegitimate children who bore that surname, a name which was also carried by several illegitimate children of previous and future Danish kings.) 

The pendent miniature almost certainly portrays his father, Christian IV.

He was recognized and financially supported by his father during his childhood. And when he was not quite fifteen, his father gave him the Skinnerup gård estate; unimpressed with the manor house, the son had it rebuilt and renamed as Ulriksholm. The king also made him a count, while he chose a military career and was eventually made rigsgeneral (General of the Realm) and commander-in-chief of the Danish army during the Dano-Swedish War of 1657-58. 

He rode at the head of the Danish student army against the Swedish troops during the Siege of Copenhagen in 1658. When the Swedes stormed Kallebodstrand in Copenhagen, where Gyldenløve had his headquarters, he was was killed by several enemy gunshots during the struggle between the Danish-Dutch defenders and the Swedish-German attackers. He was twenty-eight.

He was buried at the Vor Frue Kirke in Copenhagen. As he was unmarried and childless, his estate reverted to the crown. The Gyldenløvesgade streets in Copenhagen and Odense are named after him. And he was long remembered by both the Danish nobility and the peasantry as one of Denmark's foremost military commanders.

A real "scene stealer" - and so beautifully lit - is Gyldenløve's little dog.

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Abraham Wuchters (1608, Antwerp, Belgium - 23 May 1682, Sorø, Denmark), Brabant-born Dutch-Danish painter and engraver. Together with Karel van Mander III, he represents the main influence from the Dutch Golden Age on Danish Baroque art. Born in Antwerp, he spent most of his career in Denmark where he and van Mander became the preferred painters of the Danish King, nobility, and bourgeoisie. In 1671 Christian V appointed him official Painter to the Danish Court and in 1673 he was also made official Engraver to the Danish Court. As royal painter he also executed decorative works in the royal residences, such as in Rosenborg Castle.