The Polish Portrait of Bonnie Prince Charlie

This book is a study of an eighteenth-century portrait of a youth in Polish dress, owned by the National Portrait Gallery in London since 1922, but never publicly displayed. Two inscriptions claim that it is a portrait of Charles Edward Stuart, popularly known as ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’. The Gallery has always doubted its authenticity and leading experts on Stuart portraiture have dismissed the identification. This study, by a historian of Poland-Lithuania, is the first detailed attempt to research the painting properly. Based on archival sources, it examines its provenance and the connections of its first known owner with the Kinlochmoidart MacDonalds, who fought for the Prince in the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion. It considers a considerable body of evidence to suggest that it is very possible that the portrait is indeed a genuine depiction of the Prince. Acknowledgements Contents About the Author Abbreviations List of Figures Chapter 1: Unknown Man Bibliography Heinz Archive, National Portrait Gallery, London Secondary Sources Chapter 2: Provenance Bibliography Heinz Archive, National Portrait Gallery, London Secondary Sources Chapter 3: Resemblance Bibliography Heinz Archive, National Portrait Gallery, London Printed Primary Sources Secondary Sources Chapter 4: The Half-Polish Prince Bibliography Secondary Sources Chapter 5: Portraits for the Sobieskis Bibliography Secondary Sources Chapter 6: Unknown Man; Unknown Artist Bibliography Secondary Sources Chapter 7: The Embellishment of Tradition Bibliography Heinz Archive, National Portrait Gallery, London Secondary Sources Bibliography Primary Sources Archives Heinz Archive, National Portrait Gallery, London The Royal Archives, Windsor Suffolk Record Office, Bury St Edmunds British Library Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych, Warsaw Printed Primary Sources Online Secondary Sources Index