Thursday, April 30, 2020

La Pucelle d'Orléans: A Transcendent Visionary



The small town of Domrémy-la-Pucelle in eastern France was just a normal medieval town in the 15th century. No one of importance came from this region and nothing important happened there. Until the year 1425 during the Hundred Year’s War. A teenage French girl claimed to have a divine mission to free France from the oppressive English feudal occupation. Joan of Arc is not just another name in a history book. She has since become an icon that has transcended time holding lasting political, religious, and social meaning. Images, paintings, and sculptures referencing her character and courage has since inspired people, countries, and kingdoms all around the world. The Maid of Orleans has become a heroine of legend not just inspiring to her contemporary time of the 1400s, but also later in the 19th century. Because of this impact on countless individuals, Joan of Arc has meant a multitude of things in different contexts. She has symbolized political and military power as well as national identity for monarchs and governments. Common people and artists have seen her as a figure of standing up for the oppressed, freedom, and resilience. No matter what time period or people group, the representation of Joan of Arc is a lasting impactful symbol in the world.


Peter Paul Rubens
Joan of Arc at Prayer
c. 1620
oil on canvas
181.6 cm x 116.2 cm
North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina

This artwork comes from the early 17th century; a time when the royal courts of Europe were commissioning allegorical, spiritual, and idealistic history paintings. Peter Paul Rubens, a well-known Flemish artist from this time, has many of his works commissioned by Marie de'Medici of France and other monarchs from England and Spain. Joan of Arc at Prayer was found among his possessions after he died and is now displayed at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, NC. From the context of Ruben’s many other paintings of this time period, he was commissioned by multiple countries to make paintings with symbolic themes regarding divine favor, national heritage, and military power. With this background, it is fascinating that such a simple peasant girl from France could emit such strong national ideas and feelings.


Hermann Anton Stilke

Appearance of Saints Catherine and Michael to Joan of Arc
1843
oil on canvas
119.5 cm × 83.5 cm
Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg

Appearance of Saints Catherine and Michael to Joan of Arc was first painted in the post-Napoleonic era by the German painter Hermann Anton Stilke. He had first created this work as a part of a triptych for the personal collection of an English aristocrat. The other two panels showed Joan leading the French army in battle and her being burden at the stake. This artwork had also been replicated by Stilke and displayed in Berlin and other locations. One day in 1838, Stilke’s studio in Dusseldorf was visited by an unexpected visitor; the Grand Duke Alexander Nikolayevich. He was of the royal Russian family and would eventually be on the throne in his later years. Nikolayevich was so impressed and inspired by Stilke’s depiction of the chivalrous maiden, that he wanted to have the triptych for his own. Since then, Appearance of Saints Catherine and Michael to Joan of Arc along with the other two parts have been in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Joan of Arc was not only an exemplary political symbol cherished by the French, but also by the Russians.


Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
Joan of Arc at the Coronation of Charles VII
1854
oil on canvas
 240 cm x 178 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

This artwork by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres is one of the most famous paintings of Joan of Arc. It is currently in The Louvre, in Paris. It is quite fitting that this large portrait representing French nationalism is in the capital. Ingres painted Joan of Arc at the Coronation of Charles VII  with much aid from assistants for a state commission in honor of Napoleon III. During this season in France, patriotism and pride for one’s country was all the rage. Love for national heroes such as the Young Maid of Orleans shaped the culture of the 19th century. Paintings of Joan of Arc were not merely symbolic or historical, they represented ideological truths about the strength, resilience, and power of France. The iconography of Joan began to be realized as not just a French heroine, but as an image of social and political influence. Joan stood as a beacon of truth, justice, and freedom for those oppressed, a sentiment that would resonate with many cultures over the centuries.


Jules Bastien-Lepage

Joan of Arc
1879  
oil on canvas
100" x 110"
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

Joan of Arc  is a painting of Jules Bastien-Lepage, a 19th century realist painter from the region between east France and Germany called Alscase-Lorainne. This area of Europe had been fought over between France and Germany for centuries. Interestingly, this area in France is historically where Joan of Arc was from. Bastien-Lepage’s work was created a few years after the end of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). This work of Joan of Arc was one of many statements of French nationalism to subvert Germany’s role in that time of turmoil. Germany traumatized French citizens, when it permanently annexed almost all eastern France. The Alscase-Lorainne region was not regained by France until after World War I. This painting has since been moved to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.


Emmanuel Frémiet
Joan of Arc
1874
gilded bronze
400 cm
Displayed in the Place des Pyramides, Paris

This statue was made in Paris during the period of Napoleon III, when the French suffered an incredible loss of morale after their humiliating defeat in the Franco-Prussian war. As a result of this sentiment, a surge in yearning for purpose and national identity was felt across France. Joan of Arc was the perfect candidate to inspire and uplift the people of France. Statues and paintings went up everywhere in France to remember their strength and heritage ignited by the teenage girl from Lorraine. This iconography of Joan of Arc has since transcended her contemporary time period and country to impact people and cultures around the world. In addition to being in Paris, this statue by Frémiet has been copied and displayed in multiple locations world-wide such as Nancy, France, New Orleans Louisiana, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Portland, Oregon, and Melbourne, Australia. These more modern statues still hold a political and social meaning to their local people and cultures of eternal heroism, strong identity, and endurance in time of hardship.

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