The Sobieskis and Stuarts. Portrait of Prince Jules-Hercule de Rohan, Duke of Montbazon, Johann Julius Heinsius, 1766
The Sobieskis and Stuarts. Portrait of Prince Jules-Hercule de Rohan, Duke of Montbazon, Johann Julius Heinsius, 1766 - Photo gallery
The Sobieskis and Stuarts. Portrait of Prince Jules-Hercule de Rohan, Duke of Montbazon, Johann Julius Heinsius, 1766 - Photo gallery
oil on canvas, 1766
private collection
Jules-Hercule came from the powerful French family of sovereign princes Rohan. During the campaign to restore Prince Charles Edward’s father to the throne of England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1745–1746, he was aide-de-camp to Prince Henry Benedict. He was also the husband of Marie Louise de La Tour d’Auvergne, daughter of Maria Karolina Sobieska, Duchess of Bouillon, Clementina’s elder sister. Moreover, Jules Hercule’s wife Marie Louise was the first great love of Charles Edward Stuart, her maternal first cousin, who began a passionate affair with her after the failed campaign of 1745–1746 and his escape to France.
These relationships are one example of how inter-related were Europe’s royal and princely families, to whom the Sobieskis, Stuarts and Rohans belonged.
The German-born artist Johann Julius Heinsius (1740–1812), was a well-known and popular portraitist of the second half of the 18th century who worked for the French royal family, and became known as the Premier Peintre des Mesdames de France, the daughters of King Louis XV and Maria Leszczyńska.
The text was prepared on the basis of publications by Edward Corp and Piotr Piniński.
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