Portrait of Prince Charles Edward Stuart or Henry Benedict Stuart

Maurice Quentin de La Tour (1704 - 1788)

Scottish National Portrait Gallery

1748

This portrait was originally catalogued as a portrait of Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) dating from the period before Charles Edward's expulsion from France. In 2008, the gallery's former director thought it was probably a portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie's younger brother, Henry Benedict Stuart, who later became a cardinal. Maurice-Quentin de La Tour was one of the most celebrated French pastellist of the eighteenth century and many of his portraits were intended to be penetrating psychological studies.

• Medium: pastel
• Dimensions: 61 x 51 cm
• Art Fund Grant: £5363 ( Total: £22,348)
• ArtFunded in: 1994
• Vendor: Christie's

Provenance

Prince Charles Edward Stewart (?); Cardinal York (?); his executor; the Marquis Malatesa, Rome, from whom bought by Blayney Townley Balfour of Townley hall, near Drogheda in 1842; Christie's, 10/6/94, lot 25.

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