The Sobieskis and Stuarts. Portrait of King James II/VII, John Riley and workshop, c. 1680

oil on canvas, c. 1680
private collection

The painting presents King James II/VII when he was still Duke of York. He was the son of Charles I and father of James III/VIII, the future husband of Clementina Sobieska. A bust portrait, it shows the king in a plate armour, with the blue sash of the Order of the Garter across his chest. The precise rendering of the lace tie and the sheen of the armour - breast and shoulder plates - is particularly striking.
The original portrait was painted around 1680 and is now at Audley End House in Essex, England. 
James II/VII was crowned in 1685, succeeding his brother, Charles II. His rule over England, Scotland, and Ireland lasted less than four years and ended with the ‘Glorious Revolution’, provoked by the king’s earlier conversion to Catholicism and unpopular ecumenical religious policy. William of Orange, James’ Protestant nephew and son-in-law, successfully invaded England, landing in south-west England with an army of 30,000. Following the invasion, James II/VII, his wife, Mary of Modena, and their infant son James (born in 1688) fled to France, where their cousin Louis XIV gave them asylum. Their son was six months old at the time of the escape.

The king’s face was painted by John Riley (1646–1691), with the rest of the portrait completed by his workshop. Riley specialised in portrait painting. He produced numerous portraits of members of the royal family, including Charles II, his younger brother James II/VII, and the latter’s second wife, Mary of Modena. After William of Orange and his wife were proclaimed as King William III and Queen Mary II in 1689, Riley was appointed their principal painter, along with Sir Godfrey Kneller, having previously been appointed court painter to Charles II.