Henry Benedict Maria Clement was the second son of Prince James Francis Edward Stuart, the 'Old Pretender'. Created a Cardinal in 1747, he was known as Cardinal York. On the death of his brother in 1788 he became the last of the male line of royal Stuarts. In this portrait he appears comparatively youthful, and the picture perhaps dates from c. 1760.

He is depicted full-length, wearing cardinal's robes. He is seated beside a table and holds a paper in his right hand, which is inscribed: 'A Sua Altezza Reale / Il Sigre Carle Duca d'Yorch / Per / Monre Ottavio Angelelli Vescovo di Gubio [sic]'. The half-raised curtain in the background discloses bookshelves. On the floor at right lower right is a crown, alluding to his royal status as his brother's heir.

Two of the Angelelli family were among his correspondents, both acting as his Maestro di Camera: Roberto was a correspondent in the years 1752-73; Ottavio, Bishop of Gubbio, in the years 1772-87. These letters are among the Stuart papers at Windsor, but there is no mention of the portrait among them.