Mary Queen of Scots bidding Farewell to France, 1561

By 1893, when Frith painted this historical scene, the young Queen of Scots leaving France after the death of Francis II was already a well-established romantic subject in British painting. Mary had sailed for Scotland in August 1561, reportedly watching the French coastline until darkness fell — an episode that became emblematic of exile and loss. Frith painted this work at the age of seventy-four, demonstrating continued engagement with historical and literary narrative in his late career. The subject carried persistent cultural currency in Britain, fed by the Victorian fascination with Mary Stuart as a tragic queen. The National Trust holding suggests the work entered a country house collection during the nineteenth or early twentieth century. Frith's late career saw a turn toward historical subjects even as his reputation rested on the great Victorian crowd scenes of his middle years.

Oil on canvas with a figurative composition centred on Mary's departure aboard ship, using the deck environment to frame the emotional moment. Frith's late handling shows some loosening of his earlier tight academic finish, but retains precise attention to period costume and the arrangement of figures in narrative space.