Joinville trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He was a member of the second generation of classical landscape painters working in Italy with Edouard Bertin, Caruelle d'Aligny (1798-1871), Alexandre Desgoffe (1805-82) and Corot. He first visited Italy in 1824, and produced several views of Genoa, Venice, Rome and Naples between 1831 and 1848. During this period, Joinville travelled on at least one occasion to North Africa.