Early 19th Century
Overall: 74cm (29in) x 61cm (24in)
Oil on canvas in a feigned oval. Half-length portrait of James Stuart (1688-1765), claimant to the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland from 1701 until his death, depicted in full-bottomed wig and cuirassier armour, and Garter sash, after Alexis Simon Belle (1674-1734). Framed.
James Francis Edward Stuart, the ‘Old Pretender’, was the only son of King James II of England by Mary of Modena. By the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) he was expelled from France, and in 1715 made an attempt in Scotland to gain the English throne. He landed after the defeat of his supporters at the Battle of Sheriffmuir by the Duke of Argyle, and was forced to withdraw with the Earl of Mar and re-embarked for France. He died in Rome in 1765. The present Jacobite Revival portrait is thought to be based on an original work painted before his to exile in Rome and his marriage to the Polish princess Maria Clementina Sobieska in 1719.