William Charles Bell trained as an enamel painter in Geneva before securing his first royal commission in March 1850. From then onwards, he was employed constantly by Queen Victoria for almost 50 years, painting enamel miniatures, often copied after Franz Xaver Winterhalter's oil portraits, for her own collection and for distribution as gifts. His enamels were usually smaller than those by Henry Pierce Bone, William Essex or John Simpson, whose services she had previously employed, and many were set into items of jewellery, particularly Maid of Honour brooches. Queen Victoria's last payment to Bell, in July 1899, was for '6 Miniatures on Gold for Maid of Honour brooches'. Owing to his advanced years, the Queen then gave him no further work but awarded him an annual pension of £20.

Bell's enamel is based on a photograph dating from 1864.

Marie-Amélie, Queen of the French, 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, married in 1809 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, London, and the second at Claremont, Surrey, from 1848 until her death in 1866.

Signed, dated and inscribed on the gilded counter-enamel in black paint: Marie-Amélie / Queen of the French / 1864 / Painted by Bell / 1867.