James Johnstone, 2nd Marquess of Annandale

[1] After the Act of Union Johnstone was returned by his father at the 1708 British general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for both Dumfriesshire and Linlithgowshire.

He succeeded his father to the title in 1721 and stood for election as a Scottish representative peer in 1722, but was defeated, possibly because of allegations of being a Jacobite.

He gave up political ambitions and spent most of his adult life travelling in Italy where he amassed a great collection of art and antiquities.

[2] In 1726 he took legal action with the aim of preventing his half-brothers from inheriting his peerages and estates and directed that these should pass to his sister Henrietta Hope, Countess of Hopetoun, and her descendants.

His attempt to cut out his brothers was only partly successful, for only his Scottish lands and his art collection passed to Henrietta.

This portrait is probably of the 2nd Marquess of Annandale, though it is possibly of his father .