He is dressed in this painting in allegorical romanesque costume. Note the silver and gold embroidery on the cloak and the metal lace. Caption from the museum's website
a full-length highly coloured baroque portrait of james ii in a romanesque costume representing mars, the god of war. He wears a brown full-bottomed wig, and gold armour of lapped plates and tassels. He also wears green three-quarter length hose and jewelled sandals, cross-gartered to lion mask tops. His right hand rests on a stick, his left on his hip clutching an embroidered red silk cloak that is fastened with a jewel on his right shoulder. He stands in a pavilion, delineated by red swags at the top and grey silk tasselled drapes to the right. The duke's flagship the 'royal prince', 100 guns, prominently lies at anchor. Its flags signify a royal visit to the fleet in late 1672-73, with the admiralty flag at the fore, the royal standard at the main, and the union flag at the mizzen. Normally the duke of york would only have flown the royal standard at the fore. The yacht, 'anne', lies alongside, flying the admiralty as an ensign. The duke of york was in personal command of the fleet at the victory over the dutch off lowestoft in 1665 and again at the battle of solebay in 1672, which this portrait may commemorate. A small barge flying the red ensign is broadside in the foreground, with another small craft in front. On the right a page, traditionally thought to be the duke of marlborough or a member of the cabal, is dressed in a similar manner and holds a plumed helmet of franco-roman design. There is a more detailed description of this painting contained within the 'notebook' field within the 'mail' icon. Object Type: painting. Date: circa 1672-1673. Dimensions: height: 228.6 cm (90 in); width: 162.5 cm (63.9 in). Medium: oil on canvas. Collection: National Maritime Museum. James, Duke of York - Romanesque
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