Frederick the Great of Prussia
Portrait of Frederick II of Prussia, known as Frederick the Great, by court painter Anton Graff, displayed at Sanssouci Palace.
Frederick II ruled Prussia from 1740 to 1786, seizing the wealthy province of Silesia from Austria in his first year on the throne and then fighting two wars to hold it, transforming a modest electorate into a European great power through a disciplined army and an efficient, centralized state. He was also a self-styled Enlightenment monarch, corresponding for decades with Voltaire, composing music, and codifying Prussian law along more rational lines — even as he ruled through absolute personal authority. His rococo retreat at Sanssouci in Potsdam, where this portrait hangs, reflected the more private, philosophical side of a king remembered mainly for his battlefields. See the Prussian legal reforms.
CC BY-SA 4.0 — source (Wikimedia Commons). Free to reuse under the stated licence.
,_King_of_Prussia,_by_Anton_Graff_at_Sanssouci.jpg){kind=link}