Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, became Queen Elizabeth I’s favourite and her last love. The young man, barely 30 years old, seduced the queen with his arrogance, intelligence, and culture. However, he took part in a plot to overthrow her, was exiled, but returned to court despite his banishment. In spite of her feelings, Elizabeth would not hesitate to sign the order for his beheading in 1601. The last two years of her life were spent in sorrow and melancholy. In 1828, Paul Delaroche depicts the Queen as a victim of a malaise when she learns that Devereux has died. His painting now hangs in the Louvre’s Salle Denon.