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The Life of Joan of Arc by Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel

From Rejoice in Saint Joan of Arc

"La Vie de Jeanne d'Arc" ("The Life of Joan of Arc") by Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel is a children's book published in 1896.

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Painting series "Jeanne D'Arc" (1895) by Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel

Boutet de Monvel was commissioned turn several of the children's book images into full paintings, a collection which is now held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.

  • La Vision (Vision of the Archangel St. Michael)
    La Vision (Vision of the Archangel St. Michael)
  • Appeal to the Dauphin (The Dauphin had someone else sit on the throne and hid amidst the Court; Joan identified him immediately)
    Appeal to the Dauphin (The Dauphin had someone else sit on the throne and hid amidst the Court; Joan identified him immediately)
  • The Maid in Armor on Horseback (Now Commander of the French Armies, Joan marches the army to free Orleans from the English siege)
    The Maid in Armor on Horseback (Now Commander of the French Armies, Joan marches the army to free Orleans from the English siege)
  • The Turmoil of Conflict (The Battle of Orleans, which is nearly lost after Joan is hit in the shoulder and neck by a bolt, but she returns to the field and leads the French to victory)
    The Turmoil of Conflict (The Battle of Orleans, which is nearly lost after Joan is hit in the shoulder and neck by a bolt, but she returns to the field and leads the French to victory)
  • The Crowning at Rheims of the Dauphin (Joan's mission was to have the Dauphin properly crowned King by French custom and in the form of Charlemagne; the leadership thought it was unnecessary, but Joan understood that the people of France needed the ceremony at the traditional place for it at the Cathedral at Rhiems)
    The Crowning at Rheims of the Dauphin (Joan's mission was to have the Dauphin properly crowned King by French custom and in the form of Charlemagne; the leadership thought it was unnecessary, but Joan understood that the people of France needed the ceremony at the traditional place for it at the Cathedral at Rhiems)
  • The Trial of Joan of Arc (The King and his councilors betray Joan, leaving her to fight with a small army; she is captured by the French ally of the English. The French King refuses to pay a ransom for her, and she is tried in a French ecclesiastic court under English authority)
    The Trial of Joan of Arc (The King and his councilors betray Joan, leaving her to fight with a small army; she is captured by the French ally of the English. The French King refuses to pay a ransom for her, and she is tried in a French ecclesiastic court under English authority)

William Clark, Anna Eugenia Clark and the commmissioning of the Mouton de Boutet Joan of Arc paintings

Boutet de Monvel first prepared his work on Joan for a children's book, a genre in which he is recognized as significant. The book was a sensation, and he was commissioned to paint similar images as large murals at the newly built Basilica of Donrémy, Joan's birthplace. Only one panel was completed, but William Clark, of a great Montana copper mining fortune, commissioned smaller versions, of which Boutet de Monvel completed six. Clark arranged for his entire art collection, including the Joan of Arc panels to be donated to the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, DC (constituting the entire "Clark Wing" of the building), upon Clark's death. Clark, of Scotch-Irish and French Huguenot descent, was a Presbyterian. His Montana business and political rival was a Catholic, Marcus Daly, and whose investor, Henry Rogers loathed Clark, spurring a 1907 rant against Clark by, ironically in light of his Joan of Arc fascination, Mark Twain. Clark's second wife, neé. Anna Eugenia La Chapelle, was possibly the source of his own interest in Saint Joan. Anna was a French Canadian Roman Catholic, and she married Clark in Paris. He was an avid art collector, so the two interests seemed to have combined into the commission of the Joan of Arc series.

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