Joan of Arc in 10 Paintings

1. Visionary Patriot

This fascinating French woman is also known as The Maid of Orleans, Jeanne La Pucelle, and The Saint of Lorraine. In modern French, she is known as Jeanne d’Arc. Jehanne (as she called herself) was born in 1412 in the north east of France to a peasant family. She was described as a kind and pious child. Aged 13, she started hearing voices from God. She saved the French from English rule aged 17, and was executed by a murderous Church and State combo aged just 19.

2. Illiterate Peasant

The life of this particular young woman is one of the most well-documented in history, thanks to extensive trial records and eyewitness accounts, which were preserved in all their glorious detail. We also have nine letters, dictated by her, which evidence an astute and articulate woman. However, we have very few clues about her appearance, which is where the artists come in, and let’s just say that some of these painters have really given their fantasies full rein! Joan was described by people who had actually met her as strong and sturdy. She had a short neck, a dark complexion with wide-set brown eyes, short black hair, and a sweet, melodious voice. She was 5 ft 2 in./1.58 m tall (seems short, but it was about average for the time).

3. Androgynous Icon

Her virginity was tested multiple times, an unsettling obsession with hymens we still haven’t quite shaken off, and she dressed as men would on the road and in battle—hose, tunic, high boots, and armour. Her short hair was similarly practical for the battlefield. Archivists have even found a single black hair, pressed into a wax seal, but sadly, this is now lost (or stolen?). And did you know that Joan’s page-boy cut (shown below) would inspire the modern bob, ever associated with freedom and feminism. Thank you, Joan!

4. God’s Warrior

Did Joan hear voices? Today, some believe she was a true visionary, with a hotline to God. Others diagnose her as mentally ill. However, there is no evidence to indicate she was unhealthy in either body or mind. She never explained her voices; she felt they were simply too sacred for polite conversation or for formal interrogation. What she did reveal was that at age 13, she began to receive revelations from God through the voices of Saint Michael, Saint Catherine, and Saint Margaret. They told her it was time to free France from English invaders. She tried to tell the Saints that she, a poor peasant girl, simply could not do what they asked.

5. Sword of Justice

But the Saints persisted, and in 1429, Joan left home and requested an audience with the Dauphin (the heir to the royal throne). She asked for an army, and miraculously, she was given one! This 17-year-old girl turned out to be an extraordinarily disciplined military strategist. Her army was clean-living, went to confessions, and refrained from looting. She oversaw nine serious battles. She won back the city of Orleans in just one week. 30 cities, towns, and villages surrendered to her without a fight. And as a result, the Dauphin was crowned King Charles VII of France.

6. Kingmaker

Sadly, at this point, Charles grew rather bored of battlefields. He had his crown after all. Joan continued to fight. She was captured by a splinter group of French Burgundians, and then sold to her enemies, the English, for 10,000 francs. A trial, led by the French Catholic Church, was stage-managed by the English. Joan was confident, eloquent, even witty. But after five months of constant threats of rape, torture, and execution, she signed a document renouncing her saintly voices and put on female clothing. Sadly, even this did not save her from her enemies.

7. Heretic

Her cross-dressing (out of necessity) was considered sinful. Her voices were denounced as demonic. She was branded a witch. Joan was excommunicated and burned at the stake on May 30, 1431. She was just 19 years old. 25 years later, pressure from Joan’s grieving mother, Isabelle, and from a guilt-ridden King Charles led to rehabilitation. In 1456, Joan’s trial was declared tainted and flawed, and the Church declared her innocent of all charges.

8. Mystic Visionary

Joan’s influence has continued through time, although during the French Revolution, her story of loyalty to the Crown fell out of fashion. Napoleon found her a perfect propaganda image—the fearless French soldier. After the Franco-Prussian War of 1871, Joan’s homeland of Lorraine was once again seized by invaders, and the people of Lorraine rallied around the symbol of Joan. In 1920, Joan was declared a saint by Pope Benedict XV, making her the only figure in history to be both condemned and canonised by the Catholic church!

9. Martyr

This tiny sketch, in the margins of trial documents, is the only known contemporary portrait of Jeanne d’Arc. Drawn by Clément de Fauquembergue, the secretary of the Parliament of Paris. The artist had never seen Joan, but he had heard people describe her. It is known that she sat for a portrait, but it did not survive, so no exact image of her exists.

10. The Many Faces of Joan of Arc

And what of Joan today? What does she mean to us in the 21st century? Whatever our position on religion and miracles, we can celebrate female saints who break out of the straight-jacket of traditional roles, who show us intelligence and freedom. And there are many Joans. She is claimed as a mascot for far-right nationalist politicians in France, who emphasize pure French blood. But to others, she is a queer icon with her disdain for gender boundaries.

We are currently trapped in a rolling news cycle, horrifying exploitation and oppression of women and girls, so perhaps this is the moment to remember that one young illiterate girl upended traditional norms, and the reverberations of her actions have continued down the centuries. Joan refused to submit to male authority. She terrified men of power, and she showed us that the established order could fall.