In the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City the painting “Joan of Arc” by Jules Bastien-Lepage hangs in the B. Gerald Cantor Sculpture Gallery. This Piece is rather large and was done with oil paint on canvas, its dimensions being approximately eight feet tall with a width of ten feet. When walking toward Bastien-Lapage’s painting, it’s size and realism grabs one’s attention, and then holds it while this scene of Joan of Arc seems to take place right before one’s eyes. The corridor where the painting is displayed is part of the museums permanent collection. The gallery is composed of many sculptures with paintings placed between them; almost all of the work is French and done sometime in the 1800’s. This long and wide corridor has Ionic styled pillars at each end, and all together the subtle architecture goes nicely with all the different art work displayed. Bastien-Lepage’s painting is placed third from the end of this corridor and fits there nicely, although one might expect it to see it somewhere else for the amount of attention it receives.To the right of the painting is the wall sign that states the artist’s life span, which was 1848 to 1884, along with the following brief history:“After the Province of Lorraine was lost to Germany following the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, the French saw in Joan of Arc a new and powerful symbol. In 1875 Bastien-Lepage, a native of Lorraine, began to make studies for a picture of her. In the present Painting, exhibited in the salon of 1880, Joan is shown receiving her revelation in her parents’ garden. Behind her are Saint Michael, Margaret, and Catherine.”Joan appears to be the focus of the painting as she stands in the foreground and to the right. Her image is almost life size, and, along with an enormous amount of detail that has been used, she appears very lifelike. Joan stands with her head and shoulder l...
