Image: JoanOfArcLarge

Description: When after the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, Joan of Arc's homeland of Lorraine was once again held captive by invaders, the people of Lorraine rallied around the symbol of Joan of Arc who four hundred years earlier had rallied the French army against the English invaders. As one of the Lorraine natives inspired by the sudden relevance of Joan of Arc's image, Jules Bastien-Lepage in 1875 started sketches for this life-sized portrait of Joan of Arc showing her at the moment that she received her first call to arms against the English invaders of 1424. Bastien-Lepage captures the suddenness of the call by showing the overturned chair from which she has just sprung at her spinning wheel behind her together with the wet edge of her dress that has just brushed through the dew from the weeds in the garden at the back of her parents' house. The 2.5 meter (8 feet) high painting hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The enormous painting was achieved by joining two vertical canvas panels and frames along the vertical line through the right edge of the house in the background. The almost transparent Saints Michael, Margaret, and Catherine can be seen hovering in the background against the house awaiting her decision.
Title: Joan of Arc 
Author: Jules Bastien-Lepage
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No