After Maurice-Quentin de la Tour (1704-1788), Portrait of Prince Charles Edward Stuart

French School, after Maurice-Quentin de la Tour (1704-1788), Portrait of Prince Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788)
Pastel laid on canvas
19 1⁄2 x 15 ins. (unframed)
c.1748

Prince Charles Edward Stuart was the eldest son of James Francis Edward Stuart, ‘de jure’ King James III of England, Scotland, and Ireland. James was the hereditary heir of his father, James VII and II, who was exiled from his realms to France after the Revolution of 1688. King James's loyal supporters at home and on the Continent would become known as ‘Jacobites’ (literally followers of James). The legitimist court began at the royal Palace of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in France under the aegis of Louis XIV and was later located at the papal Palazzo Muti in Rome. Charles, with his younger brother Henry Benedict, was born and raised within this exiled British court and its overarching cause, the restoration of the Stuarts, would define their lives. Acting as regent to reclaim James III's kingdoms, Charles landed in Scotland in 1745 with a small band of men and there proceeded to raise a great rebellion against the Hanoverian state. Marked by a series of startling successes, the Jacobite army marched upon England and, should the clans not have turned around against their leader’s better judgement, may have quite credibly captured London. Thus, British history was presented with perhaps its greatest counter-factual ‘what if?’ However, the 45’ would of course tragically end in the butchery of Culloden, but it was by no means clear thereafter that the uprising would be the last great chance of Jacobite victory. Having not only taken Britain, but all Europe, by surprise Charles had won his eponymous legend as ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie,’ and returned to France a hero of international acclaim.

This portrait of Prince Charles Edward Stuart, dating to the late 1740s, is based on a now lost pastel drawing by Maurice Quentin de la Tour exhibited in the Paris Salon of 1748. The portrait, which captured the prince with a candid, noble countenance, displayed the confidence which so inspired his adherents which may be observed here. It was an immediate triumph and soon became a defining image of the hero of the 45’ through numerous engravings. Charles’s brother, Henry Benedict, also sat to de la Tour for a pendant portrait. Although Henry would later become a prince of the Church as ‘Cardinal York,’ he was yet to embrace his vocation and had headed a French army of 10,000 men at Dunkirk to assist his brother, the arrival of which was thwarted by Charles’s withdrawal. Henry was thus fittingly portrayed in armour and, given the similar likenesses of the brothers, the picture was later confused with his elder brother's until Grosvenor 2008 (SNPG). This portrait thus represents the rare opportunity to acquire a defining image of Bonnie Prince Charlie at the very height of his fame.

Provenance:
Geoffrey Bennison (1921-1984), interior designer.

Literature:
Neil Jeffares, "Maurice-Quentin de La Tour", Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, J.46.1463.