A Jacobite Gazetteer - England

Petworth House

Petworth is located about 60 km southwest of London. Petworth House was formerly the home of the Percy Dukes of Somerset, and later of the Wyndham family, descended from Sir William Wyndham, Bt., the leader of the English Jacobites in the 1710s. Today the house contains the finest collection of paintings owned by the National Trust. There are several paintings of Jacobite interest.

There is a group portrait by Peter Lely of three of the children of King Charles I: James, Duke of York (later King James II and VII, Henry, Duke of Gloucester, and Princess Elizabeth. This work was painted during the Civil War when the three children were in the custody of Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, at Syon House.¹

Henry, Duke of Gloucester, Princess Elizabeth, James, Duke of York, by Peter Lely

In the North Gallery hangs a portait of King James II and VII ascribed to the School of Peter Lely.² James wears the collar of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.

James II and VII, by the School of Lely

In the Square Dining Room there is a portrait by Godfrey Kneller of Count Ferdinando d'Adda (1649-1719).³ In 1687 Adda was sent to England by Pope Innocent XI as papal nuncio. In 1688 he served as proxy for the pope at the baptism of the future King James III and VIII.4 At the revolution, he left England and returned to Rome. He was subsequently made a cardinal.

Count Ferdinando d'Adda, by Godfrey Kneller

Among the other paintings of related interest are the following: in the Marble Hall, a portrait of Prince Rupert (by Simon Verelst); in the Carved Room, copies of portraits by Anthony Van Dyck of King Charles I on horseback and of Queen Henrietta Maria with her dwarf Henry Hudson; in the North Gallery, a portrait of King Charles II (by the School of Peter Lely).

National Trust website.