Sir James Steuart Denham was the son of the Solicitor General and political economist of the same name. His father had been a supporter of the Jacobites and was exiled after their defeat at the Battle of Culloden in 1746. Young James, who was only two years old at the time, grew up in exile in the German town of Tübingen where this portrait was painted. The Steuarts (they added Denham to their surname later) chose Tübingen because of the excellence of its university for their son's education.