St. Joan of Arc, Maiden of Orléans

COMMISSIONED WORK Oil on Canvas 4'x6' (2022) Many of us are familiar with St. Joan seen suited in her armor, with her battle standard held high, leading an army. But maybe we have never considered her as a maiden before. Fr. David, pastor of St. Joan of Arc parish, gave the idea to depict St. Joan at the beginning of her mission, receiving the messages from St. Michael. This piece weaves together the grand mission St. Joan undertakes, and the humble French peasant who became a heroine of God. Inspired by the naturalistic portrayals of French people of Jules Bastien-Lepage, we see a young girl interrupted at work. She sits barefoot on the ground, in her family’s garden pulling radishes, one hand lies open on her lap, a radish rolls from her grasp onto the ground, and she gazes upward with intent, her other hand resting over her heart. This is the moment St. Michael appeared to her for the first time. Leaving her ordinary life, Joan followed the directions of God’s messengers to heroically accomplish his will. St. Joan as instructed by heavenly counsel escorted Charles, the rightful heir to the French throne, across enemy territory to Reims, taking towns by force and enabling his coronation as King Charles VII. I used local flora to tie the scene into our local setting. The combination of a realistic foreground with a patterned background is meant to illustrate the meeting of the temporal with the transcendent. The background weaves together features from her battle standard, the Saints who appeared to her and narrative, to create an ethereal heavenly atmosphere. I decided to use a style she was familiar with for the background, and gleaned inspiration from illuminated manuscripts and medieval frescos. St. Joan wanted to be known as, Jehanne, la Pucelle, (Joan the Maiden) and her halo is inscribed with her signature, taken from surviving documents. St. Joan the Maiden, pray for us, that we may courageously follow the will of God in our lives.