Attributed to Alexander Roslin (Malmö 1718-1793 Paris)

Born in Switzerland, Johann Fries (1719-1785) was involved in a very successful and lucrative operation of provisioning the Austrian army and the routing of funds from the British government to Vienna during the Austrian Succession war (1740-1748). In recognition of his efforts, he was awarded a concession allowing him to manufacture cloth in Austria and a monopoly on the transfer of gold currency to the Orient. Through these endeavors, Fries became one of the wealthiest members of the Austrian court.

We are grateful to Neil Jeffares for his help in cataloguing the present lot.