James Francis Edward Stuart (10 June 1688 – 1 January 1766), nicknamed the Old Pretender by Whigs, was the son of King James II of England and his second wife, Mary of Modena. The prince's birth was controversial, coming five years after his mother's last pregnancy; rumours began to spread that he was an impostor baby, smuggled into the royal birth chamber in a warming pan and that the actual child of James and Mary was stillborn. In an attempt to scotch this myth, James published the testimonies of over seventy witnesses to the birth.
This oil-on-canvas studio portrait, exhibiting French influences, was probably painted in 1712 under the supervision of Alexis Simon Belle, known for his portraits of the French and Jacobite nobility. The painting depicts the young prince wearing the blue ribbon of the Order of the Garter, and now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London.Painting credit: studio of Alexis Simon Belle