King James II

King James II, by Unknown artist, circa 1690 -NPG 366 - © National Portrait Gallery, London

© National Portrait Gallery, London

Later Stuart Portraits Catalogue

King James II

by Unknown artist
circa 1690
47 1/2 in. x 38 3/4 in. (1207 mm x 984 mm)
NPG 366

This portraitback to top

When received in 1873 it was attributed to Riley, whose style it does not resemble; in 1939 it was considered to be probably painted by a French artist in the 1690s. [1] The apparent age of the sitter supports this theory.

Footnotesback to top

1) As proposed by messrs. Hake, Adams, Steegman, Serpell and Waterhouse in February 1939 but, as Catharine MacLeod has pointed out, the canvas size is English.

Referenceback to top

Piper 1963
D. Piper, Catalogue of the Seventeenth Century Portraits in the National Portrait Gallery 1625-1714, 1963, pp 177-78.

Provenanceback to top

Henry George, Kensington, 1858 as Prince Eugene by Kneller, and 1863 as James II by ‘Vander­werte’; bought at Christie’s by Lord Orford who transferred it to Colnaghi; sold in 1871 to F. O. White, London, who sold it at Phillips, where bought Colnaghi, from whom purchased March 1873.1

1 This provenance is described in correspondence preserved in the picture file.

Exhibitionsback to top

Tercentenary Exhibition, Royal Society, Burlington House, 1960; Meet the Family, Welsh Arts Council, 1972, no.15; Beningbrough 1979–.


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.

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