1721 Copper Engraving Portrait Louis VI Elector Palatine Wittelsbach EUM2

This is an original 1721 black and white copper engraving of "Ludovicus Churfürst und Pfaltz Graf beim Rhein." This is a portrait of Louis VI, Elector Palatine, an Elector from the Palatinate-Simmern branch of the House of Wittelsbach. He was the son of Frederick III, Elector Palatine and Marie of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. He favored Lutheranism over Calvinism and purged Calvinists from positions at the University of Heidelberg. The portrait is surrounded by a wonderful decorative motif featuring the Oldest Electoral Hat, signifying the subject as a Prince-Elector, or simply Elector, a member of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire. These individuals had the function of electing the Roman King or, from the middle of the sixteenth century onwards, directly electing the Holy Roman Emperor. The Oldest Electoral Hat gently rests upon velvet cloth at the top of the print, with the cloth cascading down the sides of the portrait. At the base of the frame is a decorative motto inc