2-732-658 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Joan of Arc, c. 1889. Joan of Arc is a rare study relating to Ernest Meissonier's never-realized mural for the Pantheon in Paris. The French heroine Joan of Arc appears at the center of the study without a helmet on a bare white horse, and she stares ahead with steadfast calm. One of the only visual records of Meissonier's complete design for his mural is a photograph, retouched by the artist in pen and ink, of a large sketch he presented in 1889 (see photo). The figure of Joan in this drawing appears to correspond to the rider at the center of the second upper compartment of the larger composition.