The picture is probably painted between 1810 and 1812. This portrait depicts Queen Caroline Bonaparte sitting, the royal crown resting beside her on a velvet cushion. A rich drapery and a monumental column, in the pure classical tradition of portraits, occupy the background that opens onto the bay of Naples and the smoking Vesuvius. She is dressed in antique style and wears a sumptuous Grand Habit of Court in embroidered silk and an ornament composed of a tiara, necklace, bracelet, earrings and clasp. The painting has always been considered by the owners' family as a work executed by Baron Gérard and his workshop.
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Fran%C3%A7ois_G%C3%A9rard" class="extiw" title="w:en:François Gérard"><span title="French painter (1770-1837)">François Gérard</span></a>
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between 1810 and 1812 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1810-00-00T00:00:00Z/8,P1319,+1810-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1812-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20170730153453/http://www.sothebys.com/fr/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.115.html/2017/tableaux-sculptures-dessins-anciens-xix-siecle-pf1709">Portrait de la reine Caroline Bonaparte épouse de Joachim Murat, sur le site de <i>Sotheby's.com</i>.</a>