Maria Clementina Stuart, née Sobieska

Maria Clementina (1702–1735)¹ wears a serious and simultaneously almost brash expression here, yet her gaze is also introverted and seems to be lost in the middle distance. Gracefulness and awareness of her estate are intimately intertwined in her countenance. The fine, delicate face, its aristocratically pale skin emphasised by the light silver wig, along with the playfully arranged curls, the delicate black lace in her hair, and the rich pearl jewellery, were all intended to underline the sitter’s noble origins. The red cloak edged with ermine, along with the recognisable crown at the picture’s edge in particular, illustrate a claim as ruler. 

The Polish princess Maria Clementina Sobieska was the granddaughter of the Polish king John III Sobieski. In 1719 she married James Francis Edward Stuart, the “Old Pretender” to the English throne, despite political resistance. He was in fact the legitimate heir to the throne, but the English parliament refused to recognise him because he was a Catholic. His supporters, the Jacobites, had already proclaimed him king of England and Scotland in 1701, but they were never able to put him on the throne and realise the claim. The couple then resided in Rome, where they held a court in exile. In 1720 their son Charles Edward Louis Philip Casimir Stuart (“The Young Pretender”) was born in Rome. Following his failed invasion of Britain, he became an extremely popular figure known as “Bonnie Prince Charlie”.²