Oil painting of General major Cornelius Loos (1686-1738) painted by Johan David Swartz/Schwartz (1678-1729).
Cornelius Loos, a Swedish major general, was born in Stockholm in 1686. He began his military career as an officer at the fortification under Karl XII. Loos served in the Carolean army in Poland and Russia, surviving the battle of Poltava in 1709. He accompanied Karl XII to Bender and was later tasked with traveling to the Orient to collect antiques and map out historical sites. Upon his return to Bender in 1711, Loos was ennobled by Karl XII. He participated in the final Carolean campaign against Norway and was present at the fatal siege of Fredrikshald in his later career. Loos resigned from service in 1736 and was discharged as a major general. He passed away in 1738 in Hamburg, leaving behind his wife and eight children. F.W. von Ehrenheim described him as "a polite, sensible man, but affected too much to be funny, mauvais plaisant."
This portrait, painted by Johan David Swartz (Schwartz), is the only known depiction of Loos. It is believed to have been painted either in Altranstädt in 1707, the same year Schwartz created his famous portrait of Karl XII (known as The Altanstädt portrait), or between 1717 and 1722 when Loos was in Sweden. Until 2014, the portrait was owned by the descendants of Loo's adopted daughter, Catharina Margareta Emstech. She was first married to governor Lorentz Christoffer Stobée and later to court marshal Axel Magnus Stiernsparre. They resided at Ägärden's manor in Vastergötland. Eventually, the portrait came into the possession of the Pählman-Stiernsparre family through the fideicommiss and was owned by Axel Eril Gabriel Pählman-Stiernsparre before being inherited within the family.
Dimensions: height: 76.5 cm (30.1 in); width: 62.5 cm (24.6 in)
