Will Ye No Come Again? A Portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie

From The Guardian:

A genuine and acceptably bonny portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie has been rediscovered, by the remorseful art historian who broke hearts in the Scottish souvenir industry by debunking the best-known portrait of the national hero, immortalised on countless tins of shortbread.
 
The long-lost portrait of the pink-cheeked prince was painted in Edinburgh in 1745 by one of Scotland's most renowned artists, Allan Ramsay, in the year the Young Pretender, grandson of the deposed Stuart king James II, launched a doomed invasion of England in an attempt to restore his family to the throne. It is the only known portrait of the prince made in Britain: the butchery of the battle of Culloden ended the Jacobite rebellion, Charles spent the rest of his life in exile, died in 1788 and was buried in Rome.
 
"Such a great image," Bendor Grosvenor said fondly of his discovery, which he tracked down from an old photograph to Gosford House, the family home of the Earls of Wemyss, just outside Edinburgh. "It gets the confidence of a man who wanted to invade England at the age of 24."

You may see the portrait at The Guardian site.

When Bendor Grosvener opined that a famous portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie (seen at right) was really of his brother Henry Benedict, later Cardinal, Stuart, he really upset the apple cart, as this BBC article demonstrates:

Now a leading expert believes the pastel might be Prince Henry Benedict instead of Charles Edward Stuart.
 
The gallery said it was not uncommon for re-attributions to be made.
 
It follows a two-year row over the identity of the man in the painting since London art dealer Bendor Grosvenor claimed it was not Bonnie Prince Charlie.
 
At first the gallery dismissed the claim citing expert on Jacobite portraiture, Dr Edward Corp of the University of Toulouse, France, in its defence.
 
However, Dr Corp has now changed his opinion in an article in the latest issue of The British Art Journal.
 
He said: "'The weight of evidence, perhaps regrettably, supports Bendor Grosvenor's argument that the pastel in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery shows Prince Henry rather than Prince Charles."

I think when you compare that portrait above to this of the Duke of York as Cardinal York, the resemblance is clear. Part of the reason experts thought it could not be Henry was that he was a Cardinal by 1747--but he had been in command of the naval expedition of the '45, and evidently both he and his elder brother had sat for portraits by Maurice Quentin de La Tour.

As Dr. Corp noted, this re-attribution was a really big deal:

"It is not merely the catalogue of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery which needs to be corrected.
 
"The impression which an entire nation has derived of this important historical figure should also be changed.
 
"The portrait is now reproduced in all biographies of the prince, and has been selected to illustrate the article about him in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography."
 
Still the real search is for a portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie by Maurice Quentin de La Tour painted around the same time as this painting of Henry Benedict, the Duke of York.

More on the Scottish National Portrait Gallery here.

Robert Louis Stevenson and Jacobites

Requiem

Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me die.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.

Following up on my post about Robert Louis Stevenson's defense of St. Damian, the Leper Priest, here is some background on Stevenson's great Jacobite novels: Kidnapped and The Master of Ballantrae:

Masterpiece Theater aired the BBC adaptation of Kidnapped a few years ago. Set in the period after the failure of Bonnie Prince Charlie's 1745 attempt to regain the throne, Kidnapped tells the story of David Balfour:

In an effort to claim his inheritance -- the House of Shaws, a great landed estate -- Davie finds himself trapped on a ship and headed for slavery in the New World. But thanks to the intervention of a swashbuckling highlander, Alan Breck, Davie eludes his captors and joins Breck on a wild flight through the Scottish highlands, pursued by notoriously ruthless English bounty hunters. . . .

On a quest for justice, through perilous encounters with friend and foe, Davie gradually learns about the difference between right and wrong. But there are still difficult moral decisions to be made, right up until the story's final, enthralling chapter...

First published in 1886, Kidnapped -- a gripping adventure story full of drama, poignancy, heroism and danger -- surpasses even Treasure Island as a sophisticated literary work masquerading as a ripping yarn for young readers.

This site traces the path taken by Balfour and Breck through the Scottish Highlands between 27 June and 24 August 1751.

The Master of Ballantrae also explores issues of inheritance and loyalty against the backdrop of the Jacobite uprising of 1745 and its affects on Scotland:

The Master of Ballantrae begins in 1745 and is narrated by Mackellar, the loyal, often meddling steward to the respected Durie of Durisdeer family. The family consists of the old Lord and his two sons, James (the eldest son and Master of Ballantrae) and Lord Henry. Miss Alison Graeme, a relative, and heir to a great fortune, also lives with the family.

In order to keep her wealth in the family, Alison is pledged to be the Master’s wife. The Master himself is a drinker, a gambler, and a womanizer. Although he is manipulative and insinuating, he is his father’s and Alison’s favorite. Despite Henry’s best attempts, he always falls short in the eyes of his family, his only champions Mackellar and an old servant Macconochie.

The Jacobite Rising of 1745 proves an anxious time for the Durie family. To be on the safe side they decide to support both parties: one son will go and fight for the Jacobites, while the other will stay home to keep favour with King George.

As the eldest, the Master should stay at home. He refuses, and finally demands that he and Henry toss a coin for it. The Master wins and rides out, but the family later hear he has been killed at the Battle of Culloden. Tam Macmorland, who fought alongside the Master, now falsely alleges that Henry had betrayed the Master and his men to the King.