=Questions to arouse interest.= What is represented in this picture?
Where is it supposed to be? What is the girl doing? How many figures can
you see faintly suggested against the trees and the house? Why do you
think they are not real like the girl? What can you see in the distance?
What can you tell about Joan of Arc? Where does she seem to be looking?
How is she dressed? What is there about her that makes you think she is
used to hard work? that she is serious and thoughtful? that she must be
very much in earnest? that she is forgetful of self? Where does the
light in the picture seem to come from?
=Original Picture=: Metropolitan Art Museum, New York City.
=Artist=: Jules Bastien-Lepage (bȧs´ tyaN´-lẽ päzh´).
=Birthplace=: Damvillers, France.
=Dates=: Born, 1848; died, 1884.
=The story of the picture.= Far away among the wild hills of France, in
the village of Domremy, lived Joan of Arc, the “Maid of Orleans.” Her
father was a small farmer, and all her people were working people.
Joan’s life was not an idle one, for we are told that she was an expert
at sewing and spinning, that she tended the sheep and cattle, and rode
the horses to and from the watering places. But she could neither read
nor write, as she had received no education. When she wished to send a
letter she would dictate it to some one who could write, and then make
the mark of a cross at the top. As she was of an intensely religious
nature, she often wandered off by herself and remained in prayer for
hours, sometimes in the fields or the great forest near by, and
sometimes in the village church.
About this time France was frequently invaded by the English, and even
the small village in which Joan lived had been entered and plundered.
There had been so many intermarriages between the royal houses of France
and England that it was doubtful who was the rightful heir to the
throne. France was divided into two factions, yet all agreed in their
hatred of the English who had taken possession of the northern part of
the country. Worst of all, the queen mother Isabella supported the
claims of her grandson, an Englishman, against those of her own son,
Charles, the French prince.
This agreed with an old prophecy known to the country people, that
France should be lost by a woman and saved by a woman. The queen,
Isabella, who finally secured the crown for her English grandson, was
regarded as the woman who lost France; and later it became generally
believed that Joan of Arc was the woman who saved France.
Joan prayed constantly for the deliverance of her country from the
English. At last one day she told her father that she had seen an
unearthly light and heard a voice telling her that she was to go and
help the French prince. Again the vision appeared, and this time she
said she had seen St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret, who told
her that she was appointed by heaven to go to the aid of Prince Charles.
Her father tried to laugh her out of her “fancy,” as he called it, and
did all he could to dissuade her, but Joan was resolute and declared she
must go.
The village people were very superstitious, and when they heard of
Joan’s wonderful visions they were immediately convinced. An uncle of
Joan’s, who was a wheelwright and cartmaker, offered to take her to a
high nobleman who, according to the vision, should bring her before the
prince. This nobleman laughed at her, but later on became sufficiently
convinced to give her a horse, a suit of armor, and two guards to escort
her to Prince Charles.
After traveling eleven days through a wild country, constantly on the
watch for the enemy, she finally reached Chinon, where Charles was
staying. Although he was dressed exactly like the men about him, Joan
picked him out immediately, and told him she had been sent by heaven to
conquer his enemies and see him crowned king at Rheims. She also told
him several things supposed to be secret, known only to himself, and so
she was able to gain his confidence.
She told him too that in the Cathedral of St. Catherine, some distance
away, he would find an old sword, marked on the blade with five crosses,
which the vision had told her she should wear. No one had ever heard of
this old sword, and it seemed very wonderful that Joan should know about
it; but it was found in the cathedral just as she had said.
Charles then asked the opinion of all the wise men about him, and all
agreed that Joan was inspired by heaven. This put new life into the
French soldiers, but discouraged the English, who thought Joan was a
witch.
And then it was that Joan rode on to the Siege of Orleans in which, as
we know, the French were victorious. She rode on a beautiful white war
horse, her armor glittering so in the sun that she could be seen for a
great distance, and she carried a white flag. Twice she was wounded
during the terrible battle which followed, but each time she was soon up
and at the head of the French again, the English fleeing before them.
We know how the French fought their way to Rheims, where Charles VII was
crowned; and how Joan then declared her work completed and begged to be
allowed to return to her home; but King Charles would not consent. We do
not like to think of how this weak king did nothing to help her when she
was finally taken prisoner and sold by the Duke of Burgundy to the
English, who burned her at the stake as a heretic and witch. It was not
until ten years later that Charles VII publicly recognized the service
she had done, and declared her “a martyr to her religion, her country,
and her king.”
In the picture we see the “Maid of Orleans” listening to the voices. As
she sat in the shade of the great apple tree winding yarn, she had
suddenly heard voices, and then a vision of St. Michael, St. Margaret,
and St. Catherine, the saints to whom she had prayed so often in the
little church, appeared before her. She trembled, and rising, walked
forward. Now, leaning against a tree, she gazes at the vision. She
imagines herself clad in armor and presented with a sword by the saints,
who tell her that heaven commands her to free France from the English.
With its fruit trees, flowers, and vegetables, the French garden
represented in the picture was painted from nature. In the distance we
see a suggestion of the great forest in which Joan used to wander in
solitude and prayer. A simple peasant girl, poorly dressed, there is
little about her to please or attract us until we look at the eyes. Then
we begin to understand why this picture is considered a masterpiece.
Those great, far-seeing, melancholy eyes seem to look far beyond us, and
their ecstatic gaze inspires us with some of that same confidence in her
which so possessed her soldiers.
The vision which so inspired Joan is partly visible to us amid the
tangle of the trees and shrubbery. The figures of the three saints
silhouetted against the rude peasant hut add to the confusing details of
the background, and yet by them our eyes are led back to the one restful
part of the picture—Joan herself. She is not beautiful, only earnest and
good, and we feel a great pity for this girl who is so soon to suffer a
dreadful fate for an ungrateful king and people.
The sunlight falls full upon her face and outstretched arm. The curve of
this arm harmonizes with the branches of the trees above, and her
upright figure with the straight tree trunks. Her firm chin tells us
something of the determination and courage which carried her through to
the end.
We are told that she had a deep, strong voice which was capable of great
sweetness, and that her honesty and goodness compelled the respect of
even the rudest soldiers.
=Questions to help the pupil understand the picture.= Who was Joan of
Arc? Why was she called “The Maid of Orleans”? Tell something of her
life. In what country did she live? What were her duties? What education
had she received? What was her nature? For what did she pray constantly?
What vision did she have? What did her father say? How did the village
people feel about it? Who helped her go to Prince Charles? How did the
nobleman receive her at first? What were some of the difficulties of her
journey? What did she do that made Prince Charles believe in her? How
did Joan’s coming affect the French soldiers? the English soldiers? Tell
about the Siege of Orleans. When did Joan consider her work done? Why
would not King Charles VII let her go home? What became of Joan? What
has the artist represented Joan as doing in this picture? What vision
appeared to her? What does she lean against? What else can you see in
this garden? How does the tangled, somewhat confusing background bring
out the figure of Joan? What kind of a voice had Joan? Why did all the
soldiers respect her?
=To the Teacher=: Different pupils may be asked to study this lesson
under the following topics:
I. Joan of Arc as Represented in History.
II. Joan of Arc as Represented in This Picture.
III. This Picture as True to History.
IV. This Picture as a Composition.
V. The Artist.
=The story of the artist.= Jules Bastien-Lepage was born in Damvillers,
France. His parents were people of means, and as his father was an
artist he received his first art instructions from him. As a young man
Jules held a position in the post office, and his duties there kept him
busy every morning. But all his afternoons were devoted to study under
an artist who lived near by.
Then during the Franco-Prussian war he joined the army in the defense of
Paris. He was never very strong, and the constant exposure and hardships
forced him to return home on sick leave; that was the end of his
experience as a soldier. His health somewhat recovered, he began
painting in earnest. He desired above all things to be a great
historical painter and, if possible, to paint these pictures at the very
places where the historical events occurred.
He had a very fine studio fitted up on the second floor at home, but
most of his painting was done out of doors.
We cannot read much of his life without finding some mention of his
grandfather, for it was the old man’s delight to work or sit beside his
grandson while the young man was painting. The grandfather is usually
described as wearing a brown skull cap and spectacles, and carrying his
snuffbox and large checked handkerchief much in evidence. He took care
of their garden and orchard, and one of the very first pictures Lepage
painted that caused most favorable comment was a portrait of his
grandfather in a corner of the garden. This picture, together with
another of a young peasant girl, exhibited at the same time, marked the
beginning of the artist’s popularity.
Born in the same country as Millet and like him understanding the
religious enthusiasm and the superstitions of the peasants, we are not
surprised that he should love to paint the French peasant and that Joan
of Arc’s life and history should have appealed to him so strongly. This
subject had been a favorite theme for painters for several hundred
years, and most of the artists had represented Joan as a saint or as a
maid of great beauty. Lepage, however, represented her as a simple
peasant girl, dressed as such, and showing evidence in her face and her
coarse hands of the rough farm work she had been doing.
This painting of Joan of Arc is considered the artist’s masterpiece.
Another noted picture by him is “The Hay Makers.”
Bastien-Lepage became very popular indeed, and the people vied with each
other to obtain his paintings and to get an opportunity to work in his
studio. He worked very hard, and this, with the excitement of so much
publicity, finally wore him out. He died at the age of thirty-six years.
=Questions about the artist.= Who painted this picture, and where was he
born? Where is the original painting? Tell about Jules Bastien-Lepage
and his early training. Why did he not remain in the army? What kind of
a painter did he most desire to be? Where did he usually paint? Who went
with him? Describe the old grandfather. What picture marked the
beginning of the artist’s popularity? Why did the life of Joan of Arc
appeal to him so strongly? In what way did his representation of Joan
differ from that of other artists?
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[Illustration]