Prince Louis of Parma (1773–1803) with His Three Eldest Siblings, Caroline, Maria Antonia and Charlotte

Empress Maria Theresa married her daughters into the ruling houses of Europe and liked to have portraits of the grandchildren sent back to Vienna. This canvas was painted for her in Parma in 1778. Her daughter Maria Amalia had married Ferdinand, Duke of Parma, in 1769, and these are the first four of their children. Caroline, the eldest, was seven, Louis about five, Maria Antonia three, and Charlotte not yet one.

Johann Zoffany, the German-born painter who had made his career in London, arrived in Parma in the spring of 1778 and stayed about a year, painting the duke's official portrait as well. The boy's dates in the title tell the rest of his story. In 1801 Napoleon's France made Louis king of Etruria, a new kingdom set up in place of the grand duchy of Tuscany, and he died in Florence two years later, at 29.