Joan of Arc

1879

Oil on canvas, 254 × 279.4 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

A peasant girl in a farm garden in Lorraine starts up as the saints appear to her.

Shown at the Salon of 1880.
After France lost part of Lorraine to Germany in 1871, Joan became a patriotic symbol.
Critics praised her expression but thought the ghostly saints clashed with the realism of the rest.
A history subject painted as if observed on an ordinary farm.

Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York · Public Domain (Met Open Access)