In 1809, the young Louis Philippe, Duke of Orléans (1773-1850) was exiled in Sicily along with his mother. There he married the daughter of the King of the Two Sicilies: Maria Amalia of Bourbon (1782-1866).

The young couple stayed in Palermo until 1814 in Palazzo Santa Teresa, which at the time belonged to Maria Amalia, and that was renamed “Palazzo d’Orléans”. During that year, he returned to Paris after his cousin Louis XVIII was restored to the throne.

After the reigns of his cousins Louis XVIII and Charles X, Louis Philippe of Orléans became King of France in 1830 until 1848. The date of our painting “1832” indicates that the Palermo property of Orléans was already a regal site and it remained in the family estate until 1940, when the palace was seized by the Italian government and became property of the Sicilian Region in 1947.

In 1950, the Commission of Italian-French Conciliation imposed the palace’s restitution to its owners, who then sold it definitively to the Sicilian Region in 1955. During that year great part of the furniture was shipped to Paris, including our painting, which had remained in Sicily until then.

Three years after the execution of our painting, the French artists Bouchet and Audot depicted the same view of the Orléans’ palace in Palermo. This depiction was destined to be used on the engraving published in the collection L'Italie, la Sicile, les Iles Eoliennes (Paris, Aubert, 1835). Most probably, the aforementioned artists might have based themselves on this painting by Joinville, admiring it at a Parisian exhibition.

Antoine-Victor-Edmond Joinville attended the École des Beaux-Arts under the supervision of Hersent.  He affirmed himself as a landscape artist specialized in Italian and Algerian views.

He initially visited Italy in 1824 and returned several times between 1831 and 1848. The Duchess of Berry (1798-1870), niece of Maria Amalia, commissioned him to paint numerous Sicilian views.

Joinville exposed many of his Italian views at the Parisian Salon between 1831 and 1848.