The industrialist Carl Fredrik Liljevalch was an important figure for the art and museums scenes of Sweden. He made donations to biological museums and left funds in his will to create the Liljevalch Art Gallery in Stockholm. In Zorn’s portrait of him there is little in the way of a visible setting, which the artist generally liked to include to say something about the sitter. Conceivably, Liljevalch was so well known and so interesting to Zorn that a pure character study was sufficient.