''Joan of Arc'' (

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

: ''Jeanne d'Arc'') is an 1879 painting by

Jules Bastien-Lepage Jules Bastien-Lepage (1 November 1848 – 10 December 1884) was a French painter closely associated with the beginning of naturalism, an artistic style that emerged from the later phase of the Realist movement. His most famous work is his lan ...

that currently belongs to the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

; it was previously exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1889.

History

Joan of Arc Joan of Arc (french: link=yes, Jeanne d'Arc, translit= �an daʁk} ; 1412 – 30 May 1431) is a patron saint of France, honored as a defender of the French nation for her role in the siege of Orléans and her insistence on the coronati ...

, a national hero of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

following the

Hundred Years' War The Hundred Years' War (; 1337–1453) was a series of armed conflicts between the kingdoms of Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of France, France during the Late Middle Ages. It originated from disputed claims to the French Crown, ...

, became an increasingly important figure in the French cultural scene during the 1870s and 1880s, following the country's defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. That conflict had seen

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

annex the eastern part of Lorraine, the region both Joan of Arc and Bastien-Lepage were born in. Bastien-Lepage completed the painting in 1879, and after being exhibited at the

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

in 1880, it was purchased by American businessman Erwin Davis.

Description

The painting depicts the moment the saints

Catherine of Alexandria Catherine of Alexandria (also spelled Katherine); grc-gre, ἡ Ἁγία Αἰκατερίνη ἡ Μεγαλομάρτυς ; ar, سانت كاترين; la, Catharina Alexandrina). is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, wh ...

Margaret the Virgin Margaret, known as Margaret of Antioch in the West, and as Saint Marina the Great Martyr ( grc-gre, Ἁγία Μαρίνα) in the East, is celebrated as a saint on 20 July in the Western Rite Orthodoxy, Roman Catholic Church and Anglicanism, o ...

, and the archangel

Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian an ...

appeared to Joan of Arc in her parents' garden in Domrémy, urging her to fight the English. Bastien-Lepage visited Domrémy in preparation for creating the painting; the village was near to his own birthplace,

Damvillers Damvillers is a commune in the Meuse department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. See also * Communes of the Meuse department The following is a list of the 499 communes of the Meuse department of France. The communes cooperate in the f ...

. His cousin, Marie-Adèle Robert, has been identified as the model for Joan; she previously modelled for other Bastien-Lepage paintings. Critics at the Salon of 1880 where the painting was first exhibited praise Bastien-Lepage's use of Joan's pose and facial expression to demonstrate her spiritual awakening, though found the inclusion of the saints as being contrary to his usual naturalistic style; Joris-Karl Huysmans described it as "false naturalism". The response to the painting reportedly led to Bastien-Lepage fleeing Paris for

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, abandoning a similarly-styled painting of Ophelia. Marie Bashkirtseff, an artist and contemporary of Bastien-Lepage, wrote in her diary about her outrage at the reception ''Joan of Arc'' received from French critics, accusing them of not properly appreciating it; she noted that the painting was properly "worshipped" in the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

Display

As of 2023, ''Joan of Arc'' is on display at the Met Fifth Avenue.

Bibliography

* Bordonove, Georges, ''Jeanne d'Arc et la Guerre de Cent ans.'' Paris: Frances Loisirs, 1994. * Salomé, Laurent, ''Jeanne d'Arc: les tableaux de l'histoire, 1820-1920''. Rouen: Musée des beaux arts, 2003.

References

{{19C-painting-stub 1879 paintings Paintings by Jules Bastien-Lepage Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art Cultural depictions of Joan of Arc