Marie-Amélie, Queen of the French (1782-1866) was the sixth daughter of Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies, and Maria Caroline of Austria. She married Louis-Philippe, Duc d’Orléans (later King of the French) in 1809 (see RCIN 401527). Through the marriages of their nine children, the Orléans dynasty strengthened its ties with the reigning houses of Europe. Marie-Amélie spent two periods of exile in England, the first from 1815 to 1817 at Orleans House, Twickenham, and the second at Claremont, Surrey, after the Revolution of 1848 until her death in 1866.

This is a pair to RCIN 401527 and like that work a half-length version of a full-length at Versailles by Louis Joseph Noyal dated 1819. The sitter wears a low-cut purple-grey velvet dress with slashed, puffed sleeves, lace shawl and ruffed collar; she has a bandeau of pearls around her head, pearl earrings, and a ceinture clasped with pearls. The background is formed by a red curtain on the right, and a column on the left.