Description
Oil on board
Dimensions
38cm x 29.5cm (15in x 11.5in)
Footnote
Note: Indistinctly inscribed in script on old label verso: "The Pretender.... and his sister... in the Gardens of the Palace of St. Germain. This rare portrait is painted by Largilliere...". Bears further old labels verso.
In the painting the children are accompanied by a greyhound. The dog is one of the many elements in the portrait which symbolise both the loyalty of Louisa to her brother and of the Jacobins to James II and his son.
The National Portrait Gallery, London holds an almost identical version of this portrait, painted by Largilliere in 1695 (NPG 976). They record the existence of several further versions of this painting: In addition to NPG 976, full size versions are in the Uffizi; in the collection, since 1965, of the late HM Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and of Mr and Mrs T. Loman, California. One was apparently among the forty family pictures sent to Florence in 1785. [2] The Uffizi version, [3] listed in the 1890 inventory, may well have been there since the 18th century while the Queen Mother's, at Sotheby's, 10 February 1965, lot 90, may be from the Hamilton collection, Christie's, 8 July 1882, lot 1110, possibly painted for the Jacobite supporter James, 4th Duke of Hamilton (1658-1712). A small copy, formerly in the Bernal collection and subsequently at Clumber, was last seen at Christie's, 23 November 1962, lot 57. Among separate copies of the figures of the Prince and Princess a three-quarter length of the Princess was lent by Sir R.T. Gerard to the 'NPE' 1867 (197) and a half length of the sitter was at Sotheby's, 9 May 1951, lot 109.