This is the Jacobite room at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
Jacobites were basically supporters of the exiled James the VII and II who was deposed
from the throne in 1688 for his Catholic beliefs. The word Jacobite comes from the Latin Jacobus
which basically means James. And we can see all of the key players, who were involved
in the movement in some way, portrayed on the walls of the gallery.
So, I’m going to start with this painting here by Nicolas de Largilliere, fabulous
portrait painted in 1691 so this is when the young prince was just three years old. And
you can see he’s this beautiful, plump, healthy looking baby. It’s a piece of absolutely
positive image-making. He’s sat here amidst these opulent fabrics with a spaniel at his
side to signify loyalty to the Stuart Monarchy, to the Stuart cause and above his head, rather
faded out, but we just about make out the Prince of Wales feathers which are there to
signify the title that he was given at his birth.
His sister is shown in this portrait by François de Troy and she’s about eight years old,
it’s a really charming portrait which shows her with a posy of flowers in her hands, and
flowers in her hair. But this portrait, is the one that is really quite special, and
this shows James when he’s 13 years old. It was painted in 1701 and you can see the
confidence that he holds, the poise and the grace, everything that you would expect from
the next in line to the throne.
What he wouldn’t have realised at the time, in 1701, literally just months after his birthday,
his father unexpectedly died and at that point he was then recognised as the King of England,
Scotland and Ireland by the Catholic rulers in Europe and also by the Pope. So, this was
a huge position, a huge responsibility to take on his shoulders.
He initiates three risings, three campaigns during his young years as King. The first
one is in 1708, the second one is in 1715 and then the third and final campaign culminated
in the Battle of Glen Shiel which we see here in this painting. So, it’s a really tumultuous
scene with lots and lots of figures, painted by a Dutch artist. And it was actually apparently
painted from eyewitness accounts, so this is one of the few battle scenes, one of the
few scenes we have of a battle in action fought by the Jacobites, so it’s really important.
And also, of course, with the Jacobites shown fleeing and here the commanders really victorious,
resplendent in the middle of the painting astride their horse, it’s very much a pro-government
piece, a piece very obviously commissioned by the British commanders to show their victory.
So, it must have seemed, at the end of this battle in 1719 that the Jacobite hopes were
completely dashed, but actually things started to look up some months later when James Frances
Edward Stuart married. And he married the daughter of the King of Poland, John III,
Maria Clementina Sobieska. And we see the couple here in this enormous painting which
was commissioned by James in 1735. But really importantly, what we have here in the foreground,
is a really bold statement, are the three crowns, crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland
so yet again another reminder that James was the legitimate King, the King who should have
been on the throne by right.
So, Charles Edward’s birth is celebrated here in this massive-scale painting and we
can see him at the centre and he’s being held by the French court favourite, the Princess
Des Au San.
So, it’s again another monumental painting that James commissioned in 1725 again a bold
statement of his hopes, with Charles right at the centre, the new star in the family,
and the person who would then take the cause forward. And we see the family assembled here
on this wall in the gallery and now we have the addition of Henry Benedict, who was Charles’
younger brother, born five years later in 1725. So, the whole group starts with James,
James Frances, Charles to the left, Henry to the right, and their mother Maria Clementina.
So, we can see all the confidence and poise in this portrait and Charles was to become
known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, on account of his good looks and his affable and charming
personality. All hopes were now pinned on Charles Edward to take the movement forward
and this is exactly what he did in 1745 and this portrait here by Allan Ramsay shows him
at the very moment he took Edinburgh.
It was the means to and end and basically it was there, to act as a model for an engraving
which would then get circulated to all the Jacobite supporters in London to announce
Charles’ arrival. The print had a bold Latin moto across the bottom, Everso Missus Seccurrere
Seclo, basically meaning that Charles would remedy the misfortunes or ills of the age.
So, Charles managed to rally together many clansman to fight for him in his army, and
we can see one such example of a figure here, Lord Lewis Gordon who fought ardently for
the Jacobites In 1745 but what makes his case quite interesting is that his elder brother,
Lord Charles Gordon, actually fought for the opposing side, the Duke of Cumberland’s
men, the government troops.
The Duke of Cumberland pursued Charles northwards and they finally met on the battlefield of
Culloden on the 16th of April 1746. So of course the Battle of Culloden is one of the
most famous episodes in Jacobite history and again it was another defeat, another resounding
defeat for the Jacobite cause. Charles’ men had fought valiantly and determinedly
but they weren’t able to secure the victory that they needed.
So, we see the print replicated in colour in this painting here. So, the painting was
created on the Duke of Cumberland’s death, and Cumberland of course led the government
troops, and he came to be known as Butcher Cumberland on account of the fact that his
brutality was notorious during the battle. And we can see in this pin board style painting,
and it’s painted in a style called trompe l'oeil where the different elements almost
seem to be three dimensional so you could pick them off the canvas itself. But you can
see we’ve got a print of Cumberland to the top left and then the print that we just saw,
here replicated in colour in the middle of the canvas. But what’s particularly interesting
down in the lower left corner, is that we have a newspaper clipping from the London
Gazette, which is actually recounting the battle, and how it took place, and the fact
that it was a victory for the government’s troops. So, the cause was lost and Charles
went back to Rome. And we can see him here in this final portrait painted in 1785 by
the Scottish portraitist Hugh Douglas Hamilton and we can see he looks weary, careworn, sad
and defeated, knowing now that all hopes of ever regaining the throne were lost.