Prince James Francis Edward Stuart
1 of 10 portraits by Anton Raphael Mengs
- Overview
- Extended Catalogue Entry
© National Portrait Gallery, London
Prince James Francis Edward Stuart
attributed to Anton Raphael Mengs
oil on canvas, 1740s
29 1/2 in. x 24 in. (749 mm x 610 mm)
Purchased, 1876
Primary Collection
NPG 433
On display at Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
Sitterback to top
- Prince James Francis Edward Stuart (1688-1766), Known as 'The Old Pretender'; son of James II. Sitter associated with 62 portraits.
Artistback to top
- Anton Raphael Mengs (1728-1779), Artist. Artist or producer associated with 10 portraits.
This portraitback to top
Probably painted by Anton Raphael Mengs in Rome in the mid-1740s. It shows the prince with the blue ribbon and star of a Knight of the Garter, and the medallion on a green ribbon of a Knight of the Thistle. More detailed information on this portrait is available in a National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue, John Kerslake's Early Georgian Portraits (1977, out of print).
Linked publicationsback to top
- Kerslake, John, Early Georgian Portraits, 1977, p. 156
- Saywell, David; Simon, Jacob, Complete Illustrated Catalogue, 2004, p. 333
Events of 1740back to top
Current affairs
The song Rule, Britannia! by Thomas Arne is performed for the first time at Cliveden, the country home of Frederick, Prince of Wales.A now discredited account by antiquarian William Stukely asserts that Stonehenge was built by druids.
Art and science
Samuel Richardson publishes the first two volumes of Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, the best-selling novel of the period.Artists Joshua Reynolds and Thomas Gainsborough both arrive in London. Reynolds is apprenticed to the leading portrait-painter Thomas Hudson, while Gainsborough begins his artistic training with the French engraver and illustrator Hubert-Francois Gravelot.
International
Death of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI and the succession of his eldest daughter Maria Térèsa heralds the start of the War of the Austrian Succession. Britain, already fighting Spain (in the War of Jenkin's Ear), is drawn into the wider conflict as an ally of Austria until 1748.Frederick II becomes King of Prussia.
Pope Benedict XIV succeeds Pope Clement XII as the 247th pope.
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See this portrait
On display at Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh