A portrait has returned to Strawberry Hill House after being sold at auction nearly 200 years ago.

The portrait of Catherine de Medici was acquired by Horace Walpole 247 years ago, and installed in a collection at Strawberry Hill's famous attraction.

The Art Newspaper reports: "One of Horace Walpole's treasures has returned to Strawberry Hill, his fantasy miniature Medieval palace on the banks of the Thames in West London, almost two centuries after the writer and collector's possessions were scattered in an auction so spectacular that charabanc excursions were organised from central London for bidders and the merely curious."

Catherine de Medici was Queen consort to King Henry II of France and the mother of ten children, four of whom are included in the painting.

Walpole paid £25 for it in 1774 and it is the only surviving contemporaneous portrait of her.

She has a fascinating story, and according to Britannica.com she was: "One of the most influential personalities of the Catholic–Huguenot wars."

Three of her sons became kings of France.

She was: "Artistic, energetic, and extraverted, as well as discreet, courageous, and gay, Catherine was greatly esteemed at the dazzling court of Francis I."

The 1561 oil painting was aquired under the Acceptance in Lieu scheme by the Arts Council, which settled £1m of tax.