Marie Amélie, Queen of the French (1782-1866), was the sixth daughter of Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies, and Maria Caroline, who was sister of Marie Antoinette and daughter of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. In 1809 she married Louis Philippe, duc d’Orléans, later King of the French (1830 – 48). 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, from 1848 until her death in 1866.

This is a copy after Ary Scheffer's three-quarter length portrait (1857), of the exiled Marie Amélie in mourning at Claremont. It hangs in the Musée Condé at Chantilly. Another version by Scheffer is in the Musée de la Vie Romantique, Paris. Among other famous names that sat to him are Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, Alphonse de Lamartine, and Charles Dickens. The sitter here is shown half-length, seated in a red upholstered armchair, dressed in black with a white lace collar and a lace headdress.