Art critic Bendor Grosvenor found a real portrait of Prince Charles

EDINBURGH. Once, Bendor Grosvenor broke the hearts of thousands of Scots and the entire national souvenir industry by announcing that the portrait, which was considered to be the only image of handsome Prince Charlie that came to us, actually depicts his younger brother Henry. Now, Grosvenor rehabilitated himself before Scotland, finding a real portrait of Prince Charles, who became the national hero of Scotland.

The long-lost portrait of a pink-cheeked prince was painted in Edinburgh in 1745, by one of the most famous Scottish artists, Allan Ramsay, in that year, when the young aspirant to the throne, the grandson of the ousted King James II Stuart, began his doomed restoration campaign kinda to the throne of England. This is the only known portrait of the prince made in the UK: the massacre during the Battle of Callodenes buried the Jacobite revolt, and Charles spent the rest of his life in exile, where he died in 1788. Prince Charles is buried in Rome.

One old photograph of the Gosford House, the home of Earl of Wemyss’s family, located near Edinburgh, helped the researcher make his discovery.

Scotland keeps the memory of its hero, because his speech in 1745 was the last serious threat to British rule, up to the present, when the National Party of Scotland won a referendum on the independence of Scotland, scheduled for autumn 2014.

Grosvenor, who considers Prince Charles to be a hero, was tormented by the fact that it was he who established the fact that the portrait, which had been printed in Scotland for a long time on calendars, books, postcards and countless cookie jars, belongs not to the national hero, but to his younger brother Henry. The Scottish National Gallery (Scottish National Gallery), in which a portrait was proudly posted since 1994, painted by the French artist Maurice Quentin de La Tour, acquired for £ 22,000, first tried to challenge the art critic’s statement, but then was forced to agree. But Grosvenor himself has since been busy searching for a real portrait.

A letter from Prince Charles’s valet, John Stuart, addressed to “Allan Ramsey, the Artist,” preserved in the Royal Archives, was the first clue. Dated on October 26, 1745, the letter contained an imperious challenge: “Sir, you wish to come to Holyrood Palace as soon as possible in order to take up the portrait of His Royal Highness. Therefore, I expect that you will not wait for separate invitations. ”

The found portrait also confirms earlier rumors that the young Ramsay was sympathetic to the Jacobins. His painting was to become an official portrait of the new king of England, in the event that Prince Charles could realize his plans. Later, the artist had to abandon his youthful patriotism and become the court painter of George III.

Bendor Grosvenor, director of the Philip Mold Gallery, specializing in historical portraits, is also well known as an art detective from the BBC’s popular program, Fake or Luck? He traced the lost picture from photographs in the archives of the National Portrait Gallery, which brought him to the family collection of Earl Weimisse, who patronized Ramsay. In the Earl’s house, Gosford House, a painting was discovered that once again proved that the importance of this historical monument of Scotland, with all its riches, is gradually forgotten, despite the fact that the house is open to the public.

Grosvenor said: “I got in touch with the Dowager Countess Weimiss and she and her family unexpectedly provided me with comprehensive assistance. Many private owners do not want art dealers to rummage in their corridors, I don’t even know why… ".

Anna Sidorova © Gallerix.ru