With Erik XIV, Sweden saw its earliest examples of state portraits, i.e. full-length renderings showing the monarch in his royal role. To produce them, artists were summoned from abroad. In spring 1561, a painter by the name of Staffan arrived in Sweden. He is considered identical to the Anglo-Netherlandish artist Steven van der Meulen and is assumed to be the author of this portrait of Erik XIV, painted according to all the conventions of the genre.