Tocqué’s portrait of 1748 shows a handsome young prince in armour, undaunted by defeat and eager to resume military action. After his escape from Scotland, Charles settled in Paris for a couple of years. He was an enormous celebrity: it was said of him that ‘he left France an adventurer and came back a hero’. However, Charles’s attempts to persuade Louis XV’s ministers to support an invasion of England fell on barren ground. The original version of the portrait by Tocqué is lost, but the painting was widely known through this engraving. The print adds further dignity by framing Charles within a sober stone architectural surround.