Gentleman in Armour (possibly Moritz, Count of Saxony)

The gentleman in this miniature – which has formerly been inventoried as a portrait of Moritz of Saxony – indeed resembles the famous military leader and bon vivant.¹ The full face and the heavily accentuated eyebrows are similarly portrayed in authenticated portraits. The shape of the mouth and chin here, however, lack the identical distinctiveness and are rendered less powerfully.²
Moritz was the son of Augustus the Strong and Aurora of Königsmarck, and half-brother of Frederick Augustus II. Intended for a military career, he had already as a young man followed his father in different campaigns. In 1718 he was decorated with the Polish Order of the White Eagle, but left Germany two years later to enter French services. His ambitious endeavours to annex the Duchy of Courland failed as well as his suit of Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great of Russia. He established his military reputation in the War of the Austrian Succession, which earned him the rank of a marshal of France. As a reward for his victories during the Dutch campaign of 1745 to 1747, the French king presented him with Chambord Palace. In 1747 he was raised to the rank of marshal general and appointed governor of the Netherlands. After the Peace of Aachen he mainly stayed at Chambord, where he died in 1750. 
B. P.