Bonnie Prince Charlie portrait mix-up

Tag : bonnie light

The discrepancy over the picture came to light in the British ArtJournal a leading art research publication. Robin Simon, theeditor, said: "There is no doubt at all about it. It's rare thatanything is so spectacularly wrong."
The picture was bought at auction by the gallery for £22,000as a portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie. It was such a classic imageof the prince and was used as the cover for an edition of FitzroyMaclean's biography of the prince.
The question over the identity of the painting came up after apainting catalogued as "Portrait of a Cardinal" was bought thisyear by London art dealers Philip Mould.
After research by Bendor Grosvenor, one of the company's directors,he identified it as a lost portrait of Prince Charlie's youngerbrother, Henry Stuart. His younger brother, Prince Henry Benedict,was known as the Duke of York but was also elected Cardinal York.
Prince Charles Edward Stuart, also known as the Young Pretender,was the elder son of the "Old Pretender", James Edward Stuart, andthe grandson of James II and VII. He fled into exile after hisforces were defeated at Culloden in 1745. His younger brother,Prince Henry Benedict, was known as the Duke of York but was alsoelected Cardinal York.
Mr Simon said it was an easy mistake to make. "People thought onlyPrince Charlie sat for La Tour in 1747," he said. "But they missedthe point that Cardinal Henry had also sat for him."
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery acknowledged that there hadalways been some "scholarly debate" about the subject of thepainting. Both brothers looked similar in their younger years andboth were painted by de la Tour. The gallery was not planning torename it. "To date there has been no convincing evidence thatcontradicts this identification," said a spokesman.