 The James II was erected at the Palace of Whitehall on 24 March 1686, as recorded by a contemporary, Sir John Bramston the Younger. George Vertue, who found an agreement and a receipt of payment for the work, wrote that it was "modelled & made by Lawrence [Vandermeulen] (of Brussels) ... & Devoot [i.e. Peter Van Dievoet] (of Mechlin) who was imployed by ... Gibbons", and that Thomas Benniere was involved in the casting. A series of five drawings in the British Museum, which might be for either the standing Charles II or the James II, is attributed variously to Gibbons or to Peter Van Dievoet. Its artistic qualities were praised by J.P. Malcolm in his 1803 history, London Redivivum, in which he wrote:
