Musées de Langres – Maison des Lumières Denis Diderot – Musée d'Art et d'Histoire

Girault de Prangey painted this picture after a long journey that took him to Italy, the Maghreb and Spain (February 1831– autumn 1834), with a stop in Palermo (Sicily) in the first half of 1834. Dated 1835 or 1839, the work was painted for the Salon of 1839, on his return to France.

Documentary accuracy was as paramount to Girault de Prangey in this painting as in his drawings and watercolours. The architectural features, ornaments and materials of the chapel are meticulously recorded, and the use of perspective is precise. Artists sometimes deliberately resorted to miniaturism in order to make the lithographic transcription of their paintings of monuments as detailed as possible. However, the focus on descriptive accuracy does not preclude picturesque details, for example the figures sitting on the steps of the sanctuary.