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The life of Joan of Arc, who often referred to herself as la Pucelle or “The Maid”, is perhaps the best-documented of any historical person who existed until her time. Despite the wealth of information available regarding Joan’s early life, visions, military involvement, trial and martyrdom, during her lifetime and even until present times Joan was an unusual and misunderstood figure who could not be contained within social constructs. It is quite possible that such a status could have made varied interpretations of her appearance, personality and life much easier to form.
Visual representations of Joan are exceptionally numerous and varied, and ultimately they allow for her to be remembered for different reasons and to have an almost universal appeal. Through analysis of select visual representations of Joan of Arc, which will be connected with accounts given by Joan and by several of her biographers, it will be shown that while visual portrayals of Joan can embody clear connections with written testimonies, the malleability of Joan’s figure allows her to be portrayed in ways far removed from her own lived experiences.
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Joan’s status as an unusual figure encouraged biographical and artistic representations of her to develop, and since the middle of the nineteenth century there have been hundreds of English biographies of Joan of Arc published. This may seem like a significant statistic, but it does not include the 1,000 books published in French and other languages, nor the novels, songs, hymns, poems, plays, films, operas, paintings and sculptures which have Joan as their subject or use her as a reference.
Of all personalities existing during the time of the Hundred Years War, Joan is by far the most fascinating. We have more information about the life of la Pucelle than we do about Moses, Plato, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Jesus of Nazareth, Buddha or the Prophet Muhammad. This wealth of testimony regarding Joan’s life events gives her a global appeal, yet much information, including details surrounding her age and exact spelling of her name, remains speculative. It is perhaps this lack of accurate information that has encouraged the many visual portrayals of la Pucelle in existence today.
Despite Joan’s exceptional appeal in art and culture, no definitive portrait of her exists from her own time. The only image of Joan to survive from her lifetime is a small sketch penned in the 1429 register of the Parliament of Paris (Fig. 1). The artist, who never even saw Joan, portrays her “brandishing a sword and standard, wearing a fierce expression and a scoop-necked gown with long hair that falls down her back.” She appears somewhat like an “Amazon warrior of classical lore” in her sexual ambiguity and gender transgression (achieved chiefly through the sword she wields), yet also stands as the archetype of female virtue and femininity. Such characterisations, among others, ensure that Joan’s identity is incredibly flexible and ever-changing.
Following the Revolution, the French began to emphasise three distinct images of Joan: Joan as virtuous martyr, as heroic soldier, and as humble peasant. Each of these images transcend factual evidence regarding Joan’s life by centring on ideological understandings of national identity, heroic sacrifice and gender. Given the importance of these three characterisations of Joan, each of the images chosen for analysis in this paper correspond with these depictions.
The tradition of portraying Joan as a peasant or country girl emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century, and Jules Bastien-Lepage’s painting entitled Joan of Arc (but also referred to as Shepherdess; 1880) ( Fig. 2) is a prominent example of such representations of Joan. Created following the Franco-Prussian War and the loss of the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany, this work reflects the heightened symbolic and national importance that the figure of Joan the Maid was acquiring among the French.
The artwork depicts Joan, who has been interrupted while spinning, in the act of receiving divine revelation in her parents’ garden. While the work itself conveys a largely naturalist style, it does contain numerous references to the supernatural, particularly through the figures of the saints in the background. This supernatural element is also strengthened through the recessional nature of this image; the scene’s depth is gradual, smooth and established chiefly through the artist’s use of colour and the painterly background.
The colour scheme of the work is considerably earthy; Joan’s dark green shirt and brown skirt reflect the colours of the garden plants, and the lighter colouring of the house works to highlight these tones. The use of such a colour scheme can perhaps be seen as a representation of Joan’s humility and, when contrasted with the richer gold tones used to depict the saints, her humanity; it can also be read as a clear connection between herself and the land to which she belongs. This connection has the potential to be interpreted as a reference by Bastien-Lepage to Joan as the symbol of French nationalism; such symbolism incorporates a deep relationship with homeland and with place. The green and brown tones merge to create a smooth transition and unification between the image’s foreground and background, thus establishing a sense of recessional space. Lighting also holds a significant prominence within this piece. The light does not appear to be coming from a single source, and thus the image adopts an otherworldly, supernatural quality.
Bastien-Lepage employs a strong use of line in this work. The clear lines created by the trees in the left of the image not only frame the piece but also work to draw the viewer’s eye upward to the figures of the saints. Joan’s body is also linear; her extended left arm indicates that she is reaching for something, and ultimately it creates a level of openness is allowing the viewer’s eye to travel to the edges of the work. Such a structure ensures that the viewer does not simply focus on one element of the painting, but rather encourages an engagement with the image as a whole.
The figure of Joan within this image is quite arresting in its prominence and detail. Joan is portrayed as a mature young woman, and her femininity is clearly stipulated through her long skirt and hair. Similarly, the artist references Joan’s domesticity and hardworking nature in her dishevelled clothing, her skirt’s muddy and tattered hem, her reddened face and hands and rolled sleeves, and also in the spinning wheel shown in the left of the painting. Joan’s connection with the divine is made clear through her gaze. Her eyes and face are unfocused but raised heavenward, perhaps suggesting that she is at this moment hearing her call-to-arms; an idea which is also alluded to through the fact that one of the saints, most likely St Michael, seems to be offering a sword. Joan’s gaze creates a further level of openness in that it is directed away from the viewer to a place outside of the frame.
This artwork both reflects and challenges biographical accounts of Joan’s early life and “voices” (her own name for the saints instructing her). The painting is also titled Shepherdess, yet Joan never saw herself as being such as she was more inclined to help her mother with domestic tasks, such as spinning. Regarding her “voices”, Joan claimed that her first experience of them occurred in her father’s garden when she was twelve years old. Bastien-Lepage’s portrayal of Joan seems to deviate from this description, as while Joan is certainly in a garden, she is presented as more of a woman than a young girl. In a statement regarding her “voices” which she gave during her trial, Joan described that she sensed she was surrounded by a great light and heard bells and a voice coming from her right, which left her frightened. Additional sources, such as Vita Sackville-West’s biography Saint Joan of Arc, claim that Joan could feel and touch the saints. While Bastien-Lepage incorporates an almost supernatural light within his work and places the saints to the right of Joan, Joan herself is not depicted as frightened but almost as a mystic who is deep in thought.
In works depicting Joan’s visions she generally is portrayed as facing the saints, so the fact that here Joan is not facing the saints is of particular interest and lends itself to alternate interpretations. On the one hand, her positioning away from the saints could indicate that she does not yet know from where the voice she hears is coming, which would work to emphasise the painting’s supernatural qualities. Alternatively, such a depiction could allude to accounts of Joan’s visions which claim that she was at first reluctant to follow them, so much so that it took her four years to leave her home in Domremy. Whatever the true reason for such a portrayal of Joan, it seems that Bastien-Lepage was intent on referencing a sense of uncertainty and hesitation within her. This is certainly not a Joan who is accepting her command to fight with clear eagerness; rather, she appears profoundly feminine, mature, thoughtful, reserved and mystical.
As previously stated, the creation of this work corresponded with a rise in French nationalist sentiment and in the symbolic importance of Joan of Arc as heroic saviour and innocent victim. Ultimately, Bastien-Lepage’s painting connects with both elements. Here, Joan is receiving the divine instruction to redeem France, yet a sense of innocence and vulnerability is stressed through her clearly emphasised femininity. In combining these elements, Bastien-Lepage ensures that his audience is not averted from the fact that France was redeemed through the efforts of an illiterate female peasant and accused heretic.
The female fighter: a contradiction of valuesWhile such femininity as depicted by Bastien-Lepage did arise as a prominent theme in artistic portrayals of la Pucelle, her position as a military leader was also a preoccupation for artists such as Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens. His work, Joan of Arc at Prayer (c. 1620) (Fig. 3) strives to emphasise Joan’s position as a female, as a saint, and as a soldier.
As the title suggests, Joan is presented here in the act of prayer. Dressed in armour, she kneels before a crucifix and by an open window. Her gauntlets, or hand armour, have been removed along with her feathered helmet.
Rubens’ use of light and colour in this work establish clear focal points. The red of the curtain and carpet encourages points of focus and, along with the dark tones of the armour, contrasts strongly with Joan’s pale skin tones. The gold hilt of Joan’s sword encourages the viewer’s focus to be drawn to Joan’s body, and this focus is held by the repetition of gold colouring in her armour. The blue and gold feathers adorning Joan’s helmet act as an additional focal point in allowing the viewer’s eye to move downwards to Joan’s feet, and in a sense also encourages openness within the image. Rubens’ use of light in the depiction of Joan’s face and in the reflections on her armour act as vectors in creating further points of emphasis within the work.
Rubens creates additional vectors through a use of strong linear form. The straight lines formed by the pedestal in the left of the frame and by Joan’s raised arms encourage the viewer’s eye to move upwards to focus on the corpus and on Joan’s face. The sword at her side acts as a vector in drawing the viewer’s focus both upward to Joan’s hands and face and downward to the edges of the frame; thus, it also creates openness within the image.
As with Bastien-Lepage’s depiction of Joan of Arc, Rubens’ Joan both conforms and conflicts with biographical accounts of her appearance and character. It is known that Joan did wear armour on the instruction of her voices, and her elaborate armour here, especially her feathered helmet, presents her as a knight rather than as a common soldier and therefore is an indicator of chivalry and of military strength and prowess. In actual fact, Joan possessed no such skills. As an illiterate peasant girl, she had no knowledge of military or campaigning tactics. She did not appear to be interested in military techniques and was even moved to tears by the spilling of blood. It is also worthwhile to note that while visual perceptions of Joan in battle tend to portray her as the leader of the French army, she actually occupied no such position, even fighting in the rear on some occasions.
The portrayal of Joan of Arc as a knight in prayer corresponds with the romanticised view that Joan is connected with Old Testament heroines such as Judith, Esther and Deborah, all of whom are regarded as prophetesses and warriors. Such a view was held by writer Christine de Pisan, who argued Joan’s position as holy warrior who had saved France, a feat which “five thousand men could not have done.” Rubens’ image certainly enforces the perceptions of Joan as a “holy warrior”. Her act of prayer, coupled with the light shining on her face, emphasises her saintliness and submission to divine guidance, while her armour and sword reference her knightly status.
While representations of Joan as a soldier and warrior were not uncommon, it seems that many artists sought to emphasise along with her fighting spirit a clear femininity. Images of Joan astride a horse or brandishing a sword often depict her in a passive stance, with long hair or wearing a dress or skirt under her armour. Rubens follows in this style, as while Joan wears masculine clothing, clear allusions to her femininity are expressed through her pale complexion and long hair. The depiction of Joan with long hair certainly emphasises her feminine nature, symbolises vulnerability and ensures that her femininity cannot be challenged, but it conflicts with Joan’s own testimonies and with biographical accounts which state that before donning her armour she had her hair cut short for practicality. The move by this artist to portray Joan in armour yet with long hair is reflective of common approaches to the figure of la Pucelle as a female warrior.
Traditionally, a woman wearing men’s clothing, with short hair and carrying a sword is problematic because she subverts traditional gender roles. This issue was clearly paramount during Joan’s trial, as she was asked repeatedly why she had chosen to wear men’s clothing and whether she would wear women’s clothing to attend Mass. Such questions were aimed with the intention of branding Joan as a heretic, a condemnation which ultimately came not merely as a result of her wearing of male clothes, but of her failure to conceal the fact that she was a woman in man’s clothing while in the public sphere. Through branding Joan a heretic, her interrogators would ultimately force her to go against the will of her visions who she claimed, as indicated above, had asked her to dress in men’s clothing in order to fulfil her ultimate mission of restoring the true King of France to his rightful throne.
The coronation of Charles VII on the 17th of July, 1429, stood as the climax of La Pucelle’s extraordinary mission and truly gave means to all that she had done for her King. Jules Eugène Lenepveu’s painting of the event, entitled Joan of Arc at the coronation of Charles VII and completed at the end of the 19th century (Fig. 4), is an exceptionally captivating and powerful depiction of the event and continues in the tradition of depicting Joan as a victorious knight.
Lenepveu’s work illustrates the very moment of coronation. Charles, who is kneeling, robed and surrounded by clergy and soldiers, is situated in the middleground of the work and occupies its centre. To his right stands Joan herself, whose commanding presence creates a noticeable contrast with the weaker, submissive postion of the King.Figure 4
Lenepveu’s use of colour, line and light in this painting work to create a dramatic scene. Blue is a dominant colour within this work, and its repetition in the steps, King’s robes, clothing of the men behind Joan and in the window above acts as a vector in allowing the viewer’s eye to move more easily around the piece. The artist also creates strong lines to encourage visual openness and ultimately to direct the audience’s gaze upwards. This is achieved most clearly through the banners depicted in the background, the straight columns and linear outline of the walls and window behind, the geometric shapes created by the golden chandeliers (the rich colours of which encourage them to act as focal points in themselves), the staff of Joan’s banner and her upraised arm, and the raised hands of the soldier in the image’s foreground. This soldier also raises a sword which extends beyond the image’s frame, this creating a sense of openness.
Further visual openness is conveyed through the light rays descending from the top right of the work. While such a depiction of light encourages the viewer’s eye to move across the image, at a deeper level it communicates a divine element which is only further alluded to by Lenepveu’s depiction of Joan.
The figure of Joan is powerful and occupies a dominant presence. Unlike the clergy kneeling before the King, Joan holds a commanding stance. She wears her armour, which is covered by an elaborate gold robe. In one hand she holds her standard, and in her other is an unsheathed sword. Her hair is dark and short and her eyes are raised, creating a level of detachment from both Charles and the viewer.
Through such a portrayal of Joan, Lepenveu both reflects biographical details and provides a more subjective, glorified view of the Maid. In his book, Joan: the mysterious life of the heretic who became a saint, Donald Spoto indicates that throughout the coronation ceremony Joan stood nearby, wearing her armour and holding her standard. Spoto also provides Joan’s reasons for choosing to carry her standard; she claimed during her trial that it had endured much and thus should share in the honour of the coronation. The fact that Joan carried a standard at all connected her with victorious male saints, for whom banners were regarded as traditional provenance. Such a connection strives to emphasise her mission’s divine influence.
The above evidence explains Lepenveu’s portrayal of Joan with her standard, but it does not necessarily account for the sword she carries. Unlike the Joan depicted in Figure 3, who carries a sheathed sword, Lepenveu’s Joan wields her weapon. While a sword-wielding Joan has been the subject of numerous visual representations, in actual fact she desired peace and disliked bloodshed so deeply that she refused to wield her own sword in battle; rather, it was used as a threat to the enemy and a rallying signal for her soldiers. While it is possible that Joan may have indeed been carrying a sword during the coronation of Charles, biographical details indicate it to be highly unlikely that her sword would have been unsheathed.
Lenepveu’s physical depiction of la Pucelle embodies clear references to both her divine mission and femininity. Rather than looking upon her King, Joan’s eyes are raised to heaven, which connects with Joan’s indirect gaze in Figure 2. Such an expression can be interpreted in several ways. Joan, who clearly stated during her interrogation that her true King was God, could have been defiantly protesting her own allegiance to God rather than to Charles, who she saw as Christ’s earthly representative. Following his coronation, Charles lost interest in and refused to defend the young woman who had effected his crowning despite the fact that he had the means to do so. Joan’s focus away from Charles and on God (coupled with the fact that Charles is turned away from Joan) could also be read as an allusion to this abandonment.
The direction of Joan’s gaze may further demonstrate that, as indicated in Rubens’ work, she is praying and seeking guidance as to her next mission or call from God. Her “voices” had commanded her to “come to the aid of the King of France” and ultimately to effect his coronation. It is reported that after the King had been crowned, Joan, who had been standing close beside him throughout the ceremony, knelt at his feet and said: “Now is finished the pleasure of God, who willed that you should come to Rheims and receive your crown, proving that you are truly the King, and no other, to whom belongs this land of France.” Such words affirm that Joan was aware of the end of her mission and of the fact that her future had become unclear. She felt certain that she was called to do more, yet was uncertain of what her new calling would be. For such reasons, her raised eyes could certainly be viewed as a gesture of prayer and of uncertainty.
As with Figure 3, Joan wears armour in this piece. Yet it is also worthwhile to note that Joan wears over her armour an elaborate robe, of which there is no mention in her own testimonies or in biographical accounts of the coronation. As there is no other subject within the piece wearing such a robe, this depiction can be read as an indicator of the artist’s desire to express Joan’s femininity and to ensure that her gender was not questioned. It is known from accounts of Joan’s life that after accepting the divine summons to lead the French army, she saw the impracticality of female clothing and began dressing in a man’s riding outfit. While such clothing not only made it easier for her to fight and ride a horse, it also worked to de-emphasise her gender and protect her from rape and assault as she was in the company of men. As women were regularly subjected to assault during Joan’s time, her decision to enter the camp was a truly courageous one. Joan’s adoption of male clothing would also have encouraged the preservation of her virginity, which she had sworn to in a private vow. In fact, Joan reportedly insisted on wearing nothing but masculine clothing from the beginning of her mission in 1429 until her execution in 1431, so it is likely that representations of Joan wearing a skirt under her armour, such as Ingres’ Joan of Arc at the coronation of Charles VII (Fig. 5), are historically inaccurate.
In further attempts to explain Joan’s mode of dress, it has been argued that Joan’s masculine clothing indicates that she was a transvestite or lesbian. This view is not based on any historical record or testimony; rather it appears as simply an attempt to provide the motive behind Joan’s decision to dress as a man. Whatever the artist’s own beliefs about Joan, it is clear that by covering her armoured body with a robe he ensured that her female identity would not come into doubt. While this Joan clearly embodies strength and leadership through her stance, sword, armour and standard, her robe and her raised eyes indicate a level of vulnerability and of a submission to the divine which only becomes more paramount in the accounts of her trial proceedings.
As with depictions of Joan as a humble peasant and fearless soldier, image of her as a humble and victorious martyr emerged as a particularly prominent artistic subject. After she was captured by Burgundian forces in 1430 Joan was sold to the English, who imprisoned her at Rouen and put on trial. Paul Delaroche’s painting entitled Joan of Arc being interrogated by the Cardinal of Winchester (Fig. 6), which was painted in 1824, offers a dramatic, yet in instances inaccurate, depiction of the trial.
The image’s composition creates an atmosphere of drama and tension. The figures of Joan, the Cardinal (Henry Beaufort) and a scribe occupy most of the image, with the sizing of the Cardinal making him a dominant and imposing figure over the humble Joan. This dominance is further emphasised through the simple setting of Joan’s small prison cell.
Lighting encourages the creation of focal points. Joan is bathed in a light which comes from outside the frame and which creates a clear contrast with the painting’s dark background. Such a depiction can be interpreted as a reference to her innocence and purity, and as seen in Figure 2, it also works to establish a supernatural element. While the Cardinal is also situated beneath the light source, he is partly concealed by shadow. The pool of light beneath the figures draws the eye to the base of the image, thus creating a sense of visual openness. The scribe lurks completely in the shadows, indicating his status as a passive observer of the event.
Emotion and tension are created through Delaroche’s physical representation of both key figures. The Cardinal is turned away from the viewer towards Joan, and his profile creates strong, sharp lines which correspond with his angered expression. This linearity is continued through his extended left arm and pointed finger, which acts as a vector in leading the viewer’s eye to the base of the work, and through his angular right arm and hand, which tightly grips the arm of his chair. His clear anger is highlighted even more clearly through his red garments which, as the only strong colour within the image, draw the viewer’s eye and contrast dramatically with the darker background and with Joan’s own clothing.
While the Cardinal embodies frustration, Delaroche’s Joan evokes helplessness and humility. She is not sitting but rather lying on a bed of straw, indicating poverty and possible illness. Her face is more exposed and conveys a gentle, sombre expression; her eyes are raised in a gesture of divine connection. Attention is given predominately to her face through the positioning of her shackled, clasped and prayerful hands, which encourage a circular visual focus. Her hair is long and she appears to be wearing a dress, both of which work to emphasise a feminine vulnerability. In contrast to the sharp lines used to depict the Cardinal, Joan’s figure is rounded and soft, encouraging a further connection with humility and innocence.
This work both corresponds with and contradicts historical details regarding Joan’s trial. Following a desperate escape attempt at Compiègne, Joan was transferred to Rouen, where she was chained to the wall of a dark, cold cell. In presenting a Joan who is physically detained, Delaroche’s depiction effectively communicates this account. While Henry Beaufort, the Cardinal of Winchester, was present at Joan’s trial and was given keys to her cell, the transcript of the trial’s proceedings indicates that he did not occupy a prominent role and would likely not have spoken with Joan on his own. The portrayal of such a scene has led this work to be labelled as “anti-British”. Beaufort’s gesturing hand has been interpreted as an indication of hell and of the attempts of Joan’s accusers to force her to confess to sorcery. The Cardinal’s aggressive body language and gesture, coupled with his red clothing, have encouraged him to be described as “the devil incarnate”; especially when compared with the almost angelic Joan.
Delaroche’s depiction of Joan seems to digress from the account given of her time in prison. In this work, her hair is shoulder-length and she is wearing a dress, and both of these elements deviate from testimonies claiming that she continued to wear men’s clothing during the trial. Delaroche, who was an artist of the Restoration era, was concerned with portraying Joan as the embodiment of heroic and pious suffering. Joan’s vulnerable, feminine and unidealised appearance in this image thus encourages the creation of such a portrayal in emphasising her humility. Joan’s body language also encourages her depiction as a heroic, holy victim. Her clasped hands indicate that she is in prayer, and the fact that her eyes are raised rather than focused on Beaufort’s gesturing hand suggests that she is in communication with the divine and thus separate from those around her; she is not at all deterred by Beaufort’s evident threats of eternal punishment.
The death of Joan of Arc is mythically believed to have caused the end of the Hundred Years’ War and the origins of French nationalism, thus presenting her as a symbol for France. Joan of Arc may have been an outsider and she may have been misunderstood within her own time, but she clearly stood for the preservation of social and divine order. It is this clear definition of character that has encouraged countless visual representations of the peasant, warrior and martyred Joan in the centuries since her death. While historical records and Joan’s own testimonies continue to play a role in the ways she has been depicted and remembered, for the most part illustrations of the Maid correspond more closely with the values and preoccupations of changing societies.
A look at an unusual and misunderstood historical figure: Joan of Arc. (2024, Feb 18). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/a-look-at-an-unusual-and-misunderstood-historical-figure-joan-of-arc-essay
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