When Gustav III reintroduced absolutism in a coup in 1772, he did so dressed as the absolute monarch Karl XII. Here we see the costume he wore, of his own devising and supposedly recalling the unadorned uniform of the Caroline era. But it was anything but simple: black silk breechesand the Order of the Seraphim. A white armband was the mark of the men behind the coup. On the table, we can make out the new constitution that ended the Age of Liberty.