Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

Alexis-Simon Belle was born in Paris; the son of portrait painter Jean Belle. He trained with his father and then with François de Troy, a painter at the exiled court of James VII and II at St Germain-en-Laye. After the death of the exiled King, he continued to work for his son, James Stuart. In 1700 he won the Prix de Rome but remained in France to continue with Jacobite commissions. In 1703 he was elected a member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et Sculpture. Demand for portraits of Stuart was so great that by 1706 he was running his own atelier. In 1714, he joined the new Jacobite court in Bar-le-Duc, north-eastern France. He also completed commissions for the French court and examples of his work are in the collection at Versailles.

People

James Francis Edward Stuart, "The Old Pretender")

Places

Subjects

male portrait, 17th century costume, ceremonial costume, wig, Prince

Materials & Techniques

engraving

Artist

Alexis-Simon Belle (1674 - 1734)
Louise Magdeleine Hortemels (1686 - 1767)

Title

Prince James Francis Edward Stuart (“The Old Pretender”) (1688-1766) Jacobite claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland

Date

Medium

Engraving

Dimensions

height: 37.50 cm, width: 27.50 cm

Acquisition

Presented by Colnaghi, September 1952

Inscription

on panel below portrait: [pencil inscription]: The Old Chevalier ; A Paris chez le S.r Belle rue du Four Faubourg S. Germain attenant la porte de la Foure ; [bottom right, in ink] 46

GAC number

1879