Prince James Francis Edward Stewart, the Old Pretender (1688-1766), in blue and white ribboned doublet, wearing the badge of the Order of the Garter suspended from a collar chain, the Garter and the white lined blue Garter cloak, the red sash of the Order of the Bath, a sword at his side; standing full length on a Turkish carpet beside a dog next to a table covered by a gold-embroidered red cloth with a coronet composed of crossed patée and the fleurs-de-lys, tall black hat with gold-embroidered band adorned with the Prince of Wales feathers; stone pillar, gold-embroidered gold drapery with a flowering plant, foliage and classical statues on top of a garden wall

Prince James Francis Edward, the only legitimate son of James II and VIII by his wife, Mary of Modena was born on 9 December 1688. On 9 December, his mother disguised herself as a laundress, wrapped her baby in a bundle and with his two nurses escaped to France where the exiled Stewarts were given the Palace of St. Germain by Louis XIV. It was here that James and his younger sister, Louisa Maria, born in 1692 were to grow up.

When James II died in 1701, Louis XIV promised to recognise his son as King James VIII and III but in 1713, when France made peace with Britian, James was forced to leave, settling first in Avignon, then in Bologna and finally in Rome, where the Pope gave him the use of the Palazzi Muti.

With George I on the British throne, James was aware that the exiled Jacobites looked to him to win back his rightful inheritance. After an unsuccessful attempt to land in Scotland in 1707, he returned to France and after a period with the French Army, he joined the Earl of Mar's rising and established his court at Scone. After a few weeks, he was forced to flee back to the Continent.

In 1719, he married the Polish Princess Clementina Sobieska (1702-1735) and with the birth of his two sons, Charles, the Young Pretender (1720-1788) and Henry, Duke of York (1725-1807), continued the Jacobite line and encouraged his supporters. After the fiasco of the Forty-Five, Charles took to heavy drinking and frequent disappearences and refused to communicate with his brother and James became seriously ill and more and more depressed in 1764. His enemies called him 'Old Mr Melancholy' and he died in 1788 without seeing Britian again.

This miniature painted circa 1695 may well depict the garden wall of the Palace of St. Germain which lays emphasis on the Prince's parentage but the use of the Prince of Wales feathers adorning the hat and the spaniel dog was a favourite breed of James's uncle may well serve as a reminder that this child is a true Stewart prince.