A Call from Beyond: The Saints Visit Young Joan of Arc

A Call from Beyond: The Saints Visit Young Joan of Arc

by: Faira Herod

A heroin and a saintly icon to her people, Joan of Arc has been a source of national pride to France for centuries. She is known as a martyr for the cause of the king in the Hundred Years' War. However, before she went to war to fight and die for her country, it is said that at thirteen, she was called by the voices of three saints. The voices of St. Michael, St. Catherine of Alexandria, and St. Margaret of Antioch came to young Joan while she was working on her father’s farm. Guided by the voices, she was urged to go and fight for her country and bring the dauphin Charles to his rightful place on the throne, which was in dispute with the English king Henry VI at the time. Many artists over the centuries since her canonization as a saint have created artworks of every kind, depicting Joan of Arc. After the Franco-Prussian War in 1870-71, a great resurgence in Joan of Arc art occurred. France’s loss of the war created a great desire to avenge the country and land lost. Some of this lost land was in Alsace-Lorraine, where Joan grew up, further causing artists to create works about Joan. Although much art has been created that depicts many aspects of Joan’s life at this time, her call from the saints contains many other worldly and mysterious depictions of what this event may have felt or looked like for Joan. She is often depicted in her garden wearing some piece of red clothing, interrupted in her work, looking away from the saints or ghostly figures that have appeared behind her. In other compositions, artists imply her vision from the saints, but in these works, each artist has included the saints as part of what creates the scene and Joan’s call from beyond. 

Joan of Arc

Jules Bastien-Lepage

1879

Oil on Canvas

100 x 110 in

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Suddenly roused from spinning wool in her parents’ garden, a young, peasant Joan of Arc stands leaning against a tree. She has just heard the voices of St. Michael, St. Catherine of Alexandria, and St. Margaret of Antioch calling to her. The three saints appear as wispy figures behind her, hidden among the trees. There, St. Michael extends his sword to give to Joan, urging her to go and fight for her country of France. The figures stand in an intricately detailed and brightly colored landscape, filled with many plants, objects, and textures. Although many critics appreciated how Lepage painted Joan, others thought that the depiction of the saints among the very naturalistic scene was problematic.  

Joan of Arc

Léon Bénouville

1859 

Oil on canvas

Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nancy

Depicted as being much older than thirteen, this painting displays many parts of Joan’s life in one composition. Here, Joan is receiving her call from the saints, who are fading into the blue clouds and sky behind her. However, Joan is not in her parents’ garden receiving this vision, and yet she is still holding her spinning tools while taking care of the sheep, referring back to her time on her parents’ farm. The burning town in the distance displays the oncoming war with England, while also displaying what Joan will do for her country through this calling. The saints are offering her a sword to replace her spinning tools as they urge her to fight for France. This work by Bénouville was one of the first to appear as part of France’s rise to nationalism, and was later used as a reference for other artists who painted Joan of Arc in response to the French defeat of the Franco-Prussian War. 

Jenne d’Arc, bergere

Jules Eugene Lenepveu

undated

Oil on canvas

Pantheon, Paris

Standing in bright red at the center of the composition is a young Joan of Arc. Hidden in the tree behind Joan are three wispy figures. The three spirits may be St. Michael, St. Catherine of Alexandria, and St. Margaret of Antioch, but it is unknown whether Lenepveu was representing them. The spirit most visible is floating behind Joan, extending a sword to her hand so that she may grasp it and take it to war for her country. Joan is standing in her garden, taking care of her sheep and holding a spinning tool, as in other compositions. Another shepherd is seen behind Joan, sitting under the tree while two other figures plow a field in the background. The colors and light created in this composition form an even contrast between the left and right sides, making us ask why the artist may have used those certain colors on either side. 

Jeanne d’Arc

Eugène Thirion 

1876

Oil on canvas

88.5 x 64.1 in

Church of Notre Dame, Chatou

Working clearly in reference to Léon Bénouville’s Joan of Arc, Thirion depicts an older Joan of Arc receiving her call to arms solely from Saint Michael. He is flying down from the clouds and is almost whispering into Joan’s ear, while a trumpet blowing herald bears a standard behind him. St. Michael’s arms are outstretched, with his right hand holding his sword, which is in contrast to Joan, who is holding her spinning tool in the hand opposite his. Joan is sitting on a dark rocky plain while the heavens above her are filled with blues and yellows, surrounding the two figures above. 

Joan of Arc Listening for the First Time to the Voices That Predict Her Prominent Fate

1884

Pedro Americo

Oil on canvas 

90.2 x 61.4 in

Museu Nacional de Belas Artes, Rio de Janeiro

With hands clasped and a face of shock, a young Joan of Arc kneels in her family’s garden, receiving a vision of St. Michael. As she listened to his voice, the flowers she was arranging fell out of her hands and spread across her skirt. St. Michael appears behind her in a bright white array of light, his face barely visible. He illuminates the landscape around Joan, creating a bright and hopeful composition. Here, Joan is not spinning wool, nor is St. Michael presenting Joan with a sword as in other depictions. Instead, Americo’s Brazilian background and realism influence can be seen in how he portrays Joan and the setting around her.  

Auftreten von Heiliges Catherine und Michael zu Johanna von Arc

Hermann Anton Stilke

1843

Oil on canvas

47 x 32.9 in

Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg

This painting by Stilke is the left-hand part of The Life of Joan of Arc triptych, commissioned by Grand Duke Alexander Nikolayevich after he visited Düsseldorf in 1838. Each part of the triptych displays an important event in Joan’s life; however, this first tryptic displays Joan’s call from the saints to fight for her country. Saint Michael and Saint Catherine are standing before Joan in beautifully ornamented robes and armour, outstretching their hands, sending her to fight for her country. Joan is kneeling before the saints holding her shepherd's staff, and bowing her head in reverence. The saints are standing on a cloud amid a brightly glowing, yellow wood. Although the painting is not with the other two, it is easy to imagine what they may look like because of this painting’s bright colors and centered composition, which ties together the triptych.