Francesco Trevisani (Capodistria 1656-Rome 1746)
Prince James Francis Edward Stuart (1688-1766) 1719
Oil on canvas | 98.4 x 74.9 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 401232
Ante-Chamber, Palace of Holyroodhouse
-
Prince James Francis Edward Stuart was the son of the Catholic monarch James II & VII (r.1685-88) and his second wife, Mary of Modena. James II & VII was deposed in 1688 but continued to maintain his claim to the throne until his death in 1701. This claim was upheld by Prince James Francis Edward, who was brought up in France and known as the 'Old Pretender'. He made a failed attempt to regain the throne in 1715. This portrait, painted in Rome, shows the Prince as a Knight of Garter, with the crown of England beside him. The portrait was intended as a present for James's new wife, the Polish princess Maria Clementina Sobieska, whom he married in 1719. Trevisani also painted the portraits of other prominent Jacobites at the Stuart court in exile in Rome.
Provenance
Presented to George IV; added to the Carlton House inventories dated 1816 (no 566) and 1819 (no 563), attributed to Luti; taken from there to Hampton Court, where it is recorded in the Prince of Wales's Bedroom in 1861 (no 664)
-
Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
98.4 x 74.9 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
133.0 x 107.5 x 8.0 cm (frame, external)
Category
Object type(s)
Subject(s)
Other number(s)
Alternative title(s)
Prince James Francis Edward Stuart, the Old Pretender (1688-1766)
