Lot 1052: Attributed to Antonio David (Italian, 1684-1750)

Prince James Francis Edward Stuart (1688-1776) and his sons Prince Charles Edward Stuart (1720-1788) and Prince Henry Benedict Clement Stuart, later Cardinal York (1725-1807)
A set of three miniature portraits
oil on copper set within gilt carved oak frames surmounted with crowns and a cardinal's hat (3)
Oval 10.3 cm., 9.6 cm., 9.8 cm. (4 in., 3 3/4 in., 3 7/8 in.) high

Inscribed on verso in pen and ink on labels, 587, 588, 589; and printed on labels on verso, 455, 456, 457

The frames with their wooden backs are late eighteenth century, probably dating to after 1788, when Prince Henry became the Stuart King-in-exile and when he would have been entitled to a closed crown.

PROVENANCE:
J. Pierpont Morgan (nos. 455-457)
J. Pierpont Morgan Jr, his sale, Christie's, London, 24-27 June 1935, lots 587-589 (as by Nicholas de Largilliere), all sold to Lair & Co for £17.17s, £31.10s and £31.10s respectively

LITERATURE
George C. Williamson, Catalogue of the Collection of Miniatures the Property of J. Pierpont Morgan, 4 vols., London 1906-8, III, nos. 455-457 (as by Nicholas de Largilliere), pl. CXLVIII (Prince Charles) and Edition de luxe col. pl. 70 (Prince Henry)

Prince James Francis Edward Stuart, who was the son of King James VII & II (1633-1701) and his consort Mary of Modena (1658-1718), had two sons by his wife Princess Maria Clementina Sobieska (1702-1735), firstly Prince Charles Edward Stuart and secondly Prince Henry Benedict Clement Stuart, later Cardinal York.

The miniature portrait of Prince James Francis Edward Stuart (also known as 'The Old Pretender') is a copy after the three-quarter length of the sitter painted by Antonio David in 1722 and now in a private collection (Edward Corp, The King over the Water: Portraits of the Stuarts in Exile after 1689, exh. cat., Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, 2001, p. 62, fig. 44). It is not clear as to whether this bust-length oval reduction was painted by David himself (or by an assistant in his studio) or if it was painted in Britain. The original painting on canvas by David remained in Rome but it is known that a number of bust-length reduced copies were made and sent to Britain. What is unusual about this miniature portrait is that it does not show either Orders of the Garter or the Thistle, unlike the original and all the other surviving bust-length reduced copies. For example, both Orders are shown in a similar miniature portrait in oil on copper (Bonhams, Knightsbridge, 24th November 2010, lot 20), which included a crown in the lower right background; all of which seems to suggest that this miniature portrait might have been painted in England or Scotland by someone who wished to be able to deny that the sitter was Prince James. No one needed to do that on the Continent, which argues against an Italian original. It is of course possible that this miniature portrait was painted in Rome and sent from Italy to Britain, but the surviving bust-length reduced copies in oval all show the sitter wearing both orders, and there is no documentary evidence that any copies without the orders were sent to Britain. It is also worth noting that this portrait was never engraved.

The miniature portraits of Prince Charles Edward (also known as 'The Young Pretender' or 'Bonnie Prince Charlie') and his brother Prince Henry Benedict are copied from David's famous pair of oil on canvas portraits from 1729, which the artist copied in various versions up until 1732. Among the best known versions are the pair of canvases, signed and dated (1732), in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh (PG 887 and PG 888). All the surviving versions show the princes wearing both the Orders of the Garter and the Thistle, yet the two orders were deliberately excluded from the copies by David himself which were sent by Prince James to the Duke of Bedford in 1729. So these miniature portraits might also have been painted by David (or by someone in his studio) for despatch to England or Scotland. Alternatively they might be copies made in England from the versions sent to the Duke of Bedford. Another possibility is that this pair of miniature portraits of the brothers was painted after the engravings of the portraits, but that seems unlikely because the buttons of the coats are shown on the correct sides (E. Corp, op. cit., 2001, p. 67; Richard Sharp, The Engraved Record of the Jacobite Movement, Aldershot 1996, pp.111-112). A similar miniature portrait in oil on copper of Prince Henry Benedict, in which he wears the Orders of both the Garter and the Thistle, was sold at Bonhams, Knightsbridge, 24th November 2010, lot 21.

We are grateful to Professor Edward Corp for his assistance in cataloguing this lot.