The present works derive from oil on canvas portraits by Antonio David of 1732, now in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery (inv. nos. PG887 and PG888). In the spring of 1729, the Stuarts were at the Palazzo Muti in Rome and the princes were aged eight and four respectively. They received a request from the Duke of Bedford for a double-portrait of the princes, however James replied saying 'I could not send them to you both in one, without spoiling the likeness, ...since there are none here who could paint such a picture...well, that draws pictures like'. Instead, David was commissioned to paint two separate portraits in the summer of 1729 and they were sent to the Duke of Bedford. Other versions were commissioned by James from David and were circulated among his supporters and were copied on both a large and small scale. For further information on the portraits of the exiled Stuarts, see exhibition catalogue by E. Corp, The King over the Water. Portraits of the Stuarts in Exile after 1689, Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, 2001, pp. 67-70.