The many faces of Joan of Arc

THE FRENCH MEDIEVAL heroine Joan of Arc is the subject of an exhibition that focuses not only on the historical figure, but on the manner in which she has been characterized and portrayed through time: a bold warrior, pious maiden, fashionable courtier, loyal subject, condemned prisoner. She even has been depicted as a confused modern-day high school teenager in the hit television series, "Joan of Arcadia."

Renowned American writer Mark Twain had great admiration for the heralded saint and conducted 12 years of research before writing Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc. "I like Joan of Arc best of all my books, and it is the best; I know it perfectly well," Twain once said. "And besides, it furnished me seven times the pleasure afforded me by any of the others."

As an illiterate peasant, Joan followed an unlikely path to fame. Late in France's Hundred Years' War (1337-1453), she claimed to have had a vision in which God instructed her to reclaim her homeland from the increasing domination of England. With some effort, she persuaded Charles VII, the uncrowned heir to the French throne, that she should lead his troops in battle. Joan's incredible successes eventually included escorting Charles to Reims for his coronation, which ended a dispute over succession to the throne. Within a year, however, the king's enemies captured Joan, put her on trial, and burned her at the stake in a public execution, May 30, 1431. Only 19 at the time of her death, Joan was exonerated in a second, posthumous trial 25 years later. Pope Benedict XV declared her a saint in 1920.

The exhibition features more than 200 works, including paintings, sculptures, prints, illustrated books, posters, and popular art on loan from more than 20 public and private collections in the U.S. and France. The exhibit's two guest curators, Laura Coyle and Nora Heimann--who enjoyed the same duties during its run at Washington, D.C.'s Corcoran Gallery--have a personal fascination as well as a professional expertise concerning Joan of Arc.

"Joan of Arc was, without a doubt, one of the most intriguing women who ever lived, and her image is as varied as it is powerful," notes Coyle. "Not long after her death, literary and visual representations of her began to circulate widely and set important precedents for how she would be portrayed in the centuries to come. Several types of images of Joan became popular, but exactly what she stood for varies depending on the time and the place."

"Our exhibition seeks to tell her remarkable story," adds Heimann, who has been researching and writing about Joan of Arc for 17 years. "It also endeavors to demonstrate how history, in turn, has changed Joan of Arc, as her image has been made and remade throughout the ages to suit the mutable fashions and desires of others."

"Joan of Arc: Medieval Maiden to Modern Saint" is on view through Sept. 3 at the Knights of Columbus Museum, New Haven, Conn.

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