Alexis Belle was a pupil of François de Troy, who at one point was the only portrait painter working for James II. He collaborated with Troy in reproducing his portraits, the majority being of James II. After the death of James II, Belle continued to work for his son, James III, and received commissions from English, Scottish and French Jacobites, becoming the most prominent Jacobite portrait painter. Controversy surrounded James III's birth as a story was spread that he was not the child of James II (VII) and Mary of Modena. Prior to James’s birth, the queen had 10 children, none of whom had survived. The story suggested that the child was smuggled into the queen’s bedchamber in order to provide a Catholic heir to the English throne.