King James II

Inscriptionback to top

Signed with initials along bottom edge of curtain: CJ 1639.

This portraitback to top

Acquired in 1976 as one of a set of three portraits by Johnson of the eldest children of Charles I, the others being Charles II (NPG 5103) and Mary, Princess of Orange 1631-60 (NPG 5105). Finberg recorded a portrait by Cornelius Johnson dated ‘1657’ of ‘King James when a child’, sold Prestage & Hobbs, 1 April 1762, lot 43. [1]

Footnotesback to top

1) A. Finberg, Wal. Soc., X, 1922, p 37, under no.112.

Referenceback to top

Simon & Saywell (eds.) 2004
Complete Illustrated Catalogue, NPG, ed. J. Simon & D. Saywell, 2004, p 332.

Provenanceback to top

Painted for Charles I;¹ Jan van Belcamp; commonwealth sale, 23 October 1651, bought Houghton ‘and others’; recovered by the Royal family at the Restoration and listed in Royal inventories until the time of Queen Anne;² acquired c.1928 by the 2nd Baron Fairhaven (d. 1973); purchased from the 3rd Baron in lieu of Estate Duty through Morton Morris 1976.

¹ G. Vertue, Notebooks, Wal. Soc., XXIV, 1936, pp 97, 127 (citing Charles I Inventory of 1649: ‘three pictures at len: Prince Princes & Duke of York by Johnson’).
² Millar, Burl. Mag., CIV, 1962, p 330.

Exhibitionsback to top

Age of Charles II, RA, 1960, no.530.


This extended catalogue entry is from the National Portrait Gallery collection catalogue: John Ingamells, National Portrait Gallery: Later Stuart Portraits 1685–1714, National Portrait Gallery, 2009, and is as published then. For the most up-to-date details on individual Collection works, we recommend reading the information provided in the Search the Collection results on this website in parallel with this text.

View all known portraits for King James II