Saint Sebastian

The present picture belonged to the Duchesse de Berry, born Marie-Caroline Ferdinande Louise de Bourbon-Sicile, daughter of François I of the Two Sicilies (1777-1830) and his first wife, Maria Clementina of Austria (1777-1801). She married Charles Ferdinand (1778-1820), duc de Berry in 1816, the nephew of King Louis XVIII of France, and son of King Charles X (1757-1836). However, Charles Ferdinand was assassinated shortly after in 1820, and their son, Henri, comte de Chambord (1820-1883), became known as the 'miracle child' because he was born after his father's death and continued the direct Bourbon line of King Louis XIV of France. The Duchesse was forced to flee France during the July Revolution of 1830 when her father-in-law, King Charles X, was overthrown, returning to her family in Naples. In 1832 she unsuccessfully attempted to restore the Legitimist Bourbon dynasty during the reign of King Louis Philippe (1830-1848), and was imprisoned in November of that year. She was released in June 1833 after revealing her secret marriage to an Italian nobleman, Ettore Count Lucchesi Palli, Prince di Campofranco, Duke della Grazia, and giving birth to a daughter. She returned to Sicily where she lived until her death in 1870.