Ehrenstrahl has been given the honorary name “the father of Swedish painting”. He studied painting with the animal painter Juriaen Jacobs in Hamburg from 1648. In 1651, Ehrenstrahl was given the opportunity to work and study at Skokloster Castle by commission from Carl Gustaf Wrangel. His earliest known work is of Carl Gustaf Wrangel’s children, as well as a painting of Wrangel on horseback dated 1652. In 1653 Ehrenstrahl received service with the Dowager Queen Maria Eleonora, who probably paid for his educational journey which began in 1655 with a two-year stay in Venice and then on to Rome. Ehrenstrahl was called back to Stockholm in 1659 by King Karl X Gustav to take up the position of court painter. The journey back to Sweden went by Paris, where Ehrenstrahl had the opportunity to study works of Charles Le Brun, of whom he took a strong and lasting impression. Back home in Stockholm in 1661, he was appointed court engraver and the orders poured in, which forced him to hire employees to keep up with all the orders. He was knighted Ehrenstrahl in 1674 and in 1690 appointed court inspector.