52 Portrait of James Stuart the Pretender (664). . . . . B. Luti.
Half-length; facing in front, inclined to the right; his right hand only is seen. He is in the robes of the Order of the Garter, of which the jewel hangs on his breast, and has a long full-bottomed wig, a lace cravat and cuffs. On his left is a table on which is the royal crown of England. The background is gray, with a red curtain. On canvas, 3 ft. 3 in. high, by 2 ft. 6 in. wide.
The canvas is new. Behind was formerly this inscription:—“James son of James II.; by the Cavaliere Benedetto Luti, from the Cardinal of York’s collection at Frascati.” (Note in the Royal Inventory.) This picture and No. 839 were bequeathed to George III. by Cardinal York, the old Pretender’s son, and the last of the Stuarts, who died in 1807.
It was no doubt painted at Rome, some time between the year 1718, when Prince James accepted the asylum in the Eternal City offered him by the Pope, and the year 1724, when Luti died there. In 1720 he was married to the Princess Sobieski, and at the end of the same year the young Pretender was born.
The Pretender’s countenance has that heavy, sodden appearance, and that weak dejected look, which were due partly to his inert character, partly to his misfortunes, and not less to the debauched and indolent life he led. His person, indeed, was never impressive; and even an adherent, writing of the events at Perth in 1715, admits:—“I must not conceal, that when we saw the man, whom they called our King, we found ourselves not at all animated by his presence, and if he was disappointed in us, we were tenfold more so in him. We saw nothing in him that looked like spirit. He never appeared with cheerfulness and vigour to animate us. Our men began to despise him; some asked him if he could speak.”
Gray the poet gives a similar account of him some years after:—“He is a thin, ill-made man, extremely tall and awkward, of a most unpromising countenance, a good deal resembling King James II., and has extremely the air and look of an idiot, particularly when he laughs or prays; the first he does not do often, the latter continually.” Horace Walpole observed that “enthusiasm and disappointment have stamped a solemnity on his person, which rather creates pity than respect.”
53 Frederick, Prince of Wales, at a Party (606). . . . . M. Laroon?
The Prince is at the head of the table, round which eight ladies and gentlemen are seated. He is pouring wine into a glass. Some thirteen persons, attendants, and a clergyman, are also in the room. Most of them are probably portraits. Altogether twenty-three small figures. On canvas, 3 ft. high, by 2 ft. 10 in. wide.
This picture, though long labelled “Vanderbank,” is probably by Marcellus Laroon, the younger, to whom it is attributed in an old catalogue. The likelihood that he is the painter is greatly strengthened by the close resemblance in style between it and the similar piece that follows—the personages evidently being the same.