Charles I (1600-1649) was the third child of James VI of Scotland, subsequently James I of England, and Anne of Denmark. He became King upon his father's death in 1625 and married Henrietta Maria of France (1609-1669), with whom he had nine children, five of whom survived childhood, including future kings Charles II and James II. After suffering defeat in the First and Second English Civil Wars, Charles was tried for high treason by the Rump House of Commons and executed in 1649, marking the beginning of the English Commonwealth. His son, Charles II (1630-1685) was restored to the throne in 1660.
This elusive artist is mentioned in L. R. Schidlof, The Miniature in Europe, Graz, 1964, I, p. 405, having painted an enamel of the Holy Family, signed and dated 1653 and then in the collection of the Duke of Rutland. A similar enamel of The Virgin and Child, signed and dated on the counter-enamel 'LP. Jean. fecit. 1653.', was in the Charles Clore collection, sold Sotheby's, London, 10 November 1986, lot 123. According to unpublished research undertaken by Dr Bodo Hofstetter, Jean would be identical to Le Père Jean-François, a Franciscan friar of the order of the Friars Minor. The signature on the reverse of the miniature of Queen Christine of Sweden by Le Père Jean-François in the Louvre (inv. no. RF 4769) indicates that he was both painter to the Queen and her chaplain.