Mary of Modena and the Jesuit James Petre in an image with the infant James Stuart

Mary of Modena was the heroine of such images. Here she is apparently being egged on by the treacherous and, for some reason, exceedingly swarthy (probably for greater conviction as to his malicious intent) Jesuit Sir Edward Petre, counsellor to James II, accused of complicity in the substitution of Mary's infant, and who later patronised the pretender, as he was called, James Francis Edward Stuart, unrecognised as king. For the moment, however, the latter is simply lying in his cradle in a wig and has no plans for usurping the crown