Voices and Saints

A Miniature of Joan of Arc

We do not have an authentic image of Joan of Arc from her own time. There is a drawing from 1429, but we know the artist never saw Joan. Also, apparently, she sat for a portrait, but it did not survive. This medieval miniature below was painted some time between

Voices and Saints

Capture at Compiègne

Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians at the siege of Compiègne in 1430 in controversial circumstances - did the city close the gates too soon and strand her outside the walls? Below is a painting of the siege from a late 15th century French illustrated book of poems

Voices and Saints

Chartres Cathedral

If it's for you, virginity and spousal union with Christ can best be experienced at places like Chartres Cathedral, which was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It has profoundly affected many men and women, such as Joseph Campbell, ever since it was built in the 12th and 13th

Voices and Saints

Saint Michael the Archangel in paintings

A small sample of the many drawings and paintings of Saint Michael, in chronological order:

Voices and Saints

Flag of Free France

The flag of Free France, which contains the Cross of Lorraine

Voices and Saints

Gilles de Rais and Bluebeard

He was a leader in the French army and probably he fought alongside Joan of Arc. What did he do later that was so bad and was it true? He confessed, of course, as everyone did, and he was executed in 1440. The Black Baron: The Strange Life of Gilles

Voices and Saints

Joan of Arc by Jules Bastien-Lepage, Millais and others

Jules Bastien-Lepage was from Lorraine and he painted Joan of Arc in the fall-out years after the Prussian invasion of 1870-71. He had fought in the French army and like many others thought of Joan as a symbol of French freedom. Nearby Alsace and northern Lorraine by then had become

Voices and Saints

Joan of Arc in the Movies

To recreate the settings for a Joan of Arc movie, where do you shoot? The Czech Republic is always popular - that's where Joan of Arc, the TV miniseries of 1999 starring Leelee Sobieski, was shot. If you need a French location, then Luc Besson shot scenes for

Voices and Saints

Joan of Arc Tower in Rouen

This tower in Rouen - shown below - is one of the last remains of the castle in which Joan of Arc was imprisoned. It is unlikely her cell was inside but she may have been threatened or even tortured there, although this tower is a restoration effort by Viollet-le-Duc.

Voices and Saints

Joan of Arc's Birthplace in Domrémy

Domrémy, or as it's known these days, Domrémy-la-Pucelle, is still fairly remote, which seems to discourage most visitors. It features the house where Joan of Arc was born - shown below - which is now a museum and the ancient church next door. Of course, it may have

Voices and Saints

Mont-Saint-Michel

The reality is something else these days: this amazing place is overrun by thousands of tourists at all times, like it's Disneyland. This postcard image of a hundred years ago is somehow more evocative of the medieval abbey. There is really no way that Mont-Saint-Michel could ever look

Voices and Saints

Mucha's 'Maude Adams as Joan of Arc'

Czech painter Alphonse Mucha designed this poster when he was living in Chicago in 1909. It depicts American actress Maude Adams playing Joan in a stage version of Schiller's Die Jungfrau von Orleans. The idea is that Joan is terrified of the vision behind her shoulder, encouraging Joan

Voices and Saints

Roerich's 'Joan of Arc'

Nicholas Roerich's Joan of Arc triptych is from 1931. Joan and the French armies are on the right, the English enemies on the left and the Virgin Mother and Christ mediating in the middle. Roerich (1874-1947), one of the greatest Russian painters, was also a mystic who was

Voices and Saints

Saint Catherine of Alexandria

Many paintings and altarpieces of Saint Catherine are particularly brutal, especially the medieval ones. Below are some more pensive, optimistic paintings - a masterpiece by Caravaggio (circa 1598), a detail from a very small Jan van Eyck Dresden Triptych altarpiece (1437), and (at bottom) Raphael (circa 1507). The broken wheel

Voices and Saints

Saint Margaret of Antioch

A selection of paintings of St. Margaret and in none of them does she have a hair out of place, let alone blood on her dress. This is Raphael's version from around 1518. St. Margaret of Antioch is known as St. Marina in the Eastern Orthodox church.

Voices and Saints

Saint-Denis

Saint-Denis on Notre Dame holding his head... This image is circa 1475-1500 by miniature painter Jean Bourdichon.

Voices and Saints

Sanssouci

Voltaire wrote the bawdy poem The Maid of Orleans (La Pucelle d'Orléans) initially in 1730 and it was instantly popular. But, by 1740, there were hundreds of varying versions in circulation. Maybe it appealed to Frederick the Great? Voltaire spent a lot of his time after that in

Voices and Saints

Statue of Joan of Arc in the Place des Pyramides

This grand statue of Joan of Arc in the Place des Pyramides, in Paris, was designed by Emmanuel Frémiet in 1874, right after France's defeat in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War, which saw Alsace–Lorraine become part of a newly unified German Empire. Aiming at nationalist symbolism, Frémiet took

Voices and Saints

The Late Medieval 'Book of Hours'

The image below shows the Archangel Saint Michael in action over Mont-St. Michel in "The Book of Hours" (Trés Riches Heures du Duc de Berry), which was illuminated during Joan of Arc's lifetime. Books of Hours were in their heyday 1200-1500. They were the personal prayer

Voices and Saints

The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria

The Martyrdom of Saint Catherine of Alexandria (below), painted by Lucas Cranach the Elder around 1506, near the beginning of his career. Cranach later would come under the spell of Martin Luther, whom he painted in 1529 (at bottom). Luther gave Cranach this sage advice: to paint his women "

Voices and Saints

The Military Genius of Joan of Arc

Ostensibly a peasant girl from the provinces, she demonstrated superb tactical skills in warfare at Orléans and in subsequent skirmishes and she had an intuitive grasp of how to manage the propaganda war, knowing how and when to threaten the English generals with ultimatums and divine retribution, how to make

Voices and Saints

Voices and Saints - Timeline

* 1412 Joan of Arc born in Domrémy in Lorraine * 1428 The English begin their siege of Orléans * 1429 Joan leads French armies in the liberation of Orléans and other cities; coronation of King Charles VII in Reims * 1430 Joan captured by the Burgundians and later turned over to the English

Voices and Saints

What Became of Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret?

They came to sticky ends in 1969 when they were struck off the list of saints by the Catholic Church on the grounds they never existed. Saint Catherine, it was determined, was an advertising campaign by Greek priests who wanted to lure the early Crusaders to Sinai to protect their