(Paris 1683-1757 Berlin)
Portrait of Count James Francis Edward Keith (1696–1758) as a Prussian field marshal with the sash of the Order of the Black Eagle,
oil on canvas, 73.7 x 61 cm, framed

We are grateful to Prof Helmut Börsch-Supan, who considers the present painting a studio variant of the portrait executed around 1755. The present painting is either a replica in the artist’s own hand or a studio variant (cf E. Berckenhagen, Antoine Pesne, Berlin 1958, p. 151, cat. no. 187, ill. 224).

James Keith was one of the closest confidants of the King Frederick II of Prussia. Traditionally linked to the House of Stuart, he participated in the Jacobite Risings against the English in 1715/1719. After their defeat, he lost all titles and properties and was compelled to leave Scotland. In 1728 he joined the Russian army, in which he served until 1747. The Russian empress Anna appointed him Governor of Ukraine. After her death, he offered his services to the Prussian army. Frederick II gave him the rank of field marshal in 1747 and appointed him Governor of Berlin two years later. He was one of the king’s most appreciated generals, and at the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War, he was employed in high command from the outset. In 1757, he commanded the troops at the siege of Prague. On 14 October 1758 Marshall Keith was mortally wounded at the battle of Hochkirch. Frederick II erected a memorial to him on Wilhelmplatz in Berlin.