Saint Amelia, Queen of Hungary

A painting of Saint Amelia by French history painter Paul Delaroche was commissioned in 1831 by Queen Marie-Amélie, wife of Louis Philippe, King of the French.[1] The work was exhibited at the Salon of 1834 in Paris. In 1837, the painting was recorded as being hung in the Royal Chapel at the Tuileries Palace in Paris, and it was copied in an engraving by Paolo Mercuri.[2] It was also reproduced as the main panel in a stained glass window for the Queen's private chapel at the Château d'Eu. A preparatory drawing in chalk, graphite and watercolour is held by the British Museum.[3] The original painting was believed to be lost.[4]

The Fake or Fortune? team investigated a version of the painting, housed at Castle of Park in Cornhill, Aberdeenshire, to determine whether it was the Delaroche original or one of a number of copies. This unsigned work was bought in 1989, for about £500, by the late Neil Wilson, an art dealer who had worked for Christie's after leaving university. The painting's provenance was very poor. In the programme, art expert Bendor Grosvenor revealed an 1866 watercolour[5] by Joseph Nash depicting the painting in the Queen's bedroom at Claremont House in Surrey, where the deposed King and Queen lived after fleeing France following the Revolution of 1848. After that, the next sighting of the painting was when it was sold at Christie's in 1980 as a work by the French artist Fleury François Richard, with the title 'A Queen and her Retinue at Worship'.[6]

Technical analysis showed that colour anomalies in the painting were the result of pigment degradation, and that parts of the painting had also been restored. After reviewing the show's findings, Professor Stephen Bann, a leading Delaroche expert, concluded that it was the lost original. He also revealed a letter written by Delaroche, in which he registers his dismay at the state of the picture after it had been copied to create a stained glass window for Queen Marie-Amélie, and says that he will have to do considerable work to restore it.[7]

Following its authentication, Wilson's widow, Becky, was reported to have decided to keep the painting, but allow it to be displayed at the British Museum in London when a Delaroche exhibition takes place.[8] Subsequently, the painting was sold via Christie's in July 2019 for £33,750.[9]

Saint Amelia, Queen of Hungary (Sainte Amélie, reine de Hongrie) is not listed in the list of Hungarian queens neither of Catholic saints. But queen Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies and her grandmother Maria Amalia of Saxony, queen of Spain, celebrated her feast day at July 13[10]. Also queen Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies is depicted as this saint in the stained-glass of the Église Notre-Dame-de-Compassion de Paris, drawing for this was made by Ingres. He tried to find out who she was, but with no luck[11].

• Media related to Saint Amelia, Queen of Hungary at Wikimedia Commons
• Fake of Fortune: Delaroche at bbc.co.uk