An etching of James, Duke of York, after a portrait by David Teniers the Younger: almost half length, facing three quarters to the left. He has long curling hair, and wears a mantle decorated with the Star of the Order of the Garter. The portrait is framed in an oval formed by palms, below which is an inscribed cartouche.

James, Duke of York was born on 14 October 1633 at St James's Palace. He was the third child of Charles I and his French queen, Henrietta Maria. He was raises alongside his older brother, Charles II, at Richmond Palace. After the Civil War the terms of surrender led to James being placed under house arrest at St James's Palace. He escaped during a game of hide-and-seek, and, disguised as a girl, was able to board a ship for The Hague and reached the court of his sister, Mary, in the spring of 1648. The years of exile were spent in the Low Countries and France. Keen to find a role for himself, James petitioned both the Spanish and French for a military position. He spent time in Brussels in 1650, but no position was forthcoming, so he continued on to Paris, and by July 1651 he began negotiations for a commission as a cavalry officer in the French Royal Army. This print takes as its source a portrait by David Teniers the Younger, who became court artist to Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, in Brussels in 1651.

Text adapted from Charles II: Art & Power, London, 2017