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Stalking Jeanne

(vero;2020-Dec-20)

It is like a ritual: every time we visit a church in France, Vero will go and look whether there is inside a statue of Jeanne d'Arc, national hero and patron saint of France.

Jeanne is part of the French national heritage, every child in France learns about her feats of arm and how she saved France from the English, a great story... The younger the children, the more easy to impress and so it comes that we have a heroine hard to forget and nestled deep in the psyche of the French. But Jeanne is not always easy to find: she is mostly present in northern and central France. But very seldom, if present at all, in Brittany, the Alps or the South of France, all regions which were annexed to France quite late and have their own medieval history and saints. This makes the hunt even more exciting!

Stained-glass windows from the church of Saint-Rémy in Domrémy (Vosges).

Sculpture of Jeanne on the front of her birth house in Domrémy (Vosges).

Jeanne in the church of Saint-Rémy in Domrémy (Vosges).

Stained-glass window from the church of Notre-Dame-la-Grande in Poitiers, representing Jeanne facing her examinators in Poitiers (Vienne).

Jeanne in the basilica of Sacré-Coeur in Paris.

Stained-glass windows from the basilica of Sacré-Coeur in Paris. Read from right to left: 1) Jeanne hears the voices 2) Jeanne in Reims for the coronation of Charles VII 3) Jeanne burnt alive in Rouen.

A very theatrical Jeanne in the church of Saint-Eucaire, Metz (Moselle).

Painting of Jeanne in the palace of Versailles (Yvelines).

Jeanne in the cathedral Notre-Dame of Amiens (Somme).

Jeanne in the cathedral Saint-André in Bordeaux (Gironde).

Jeanne in the church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris (6th arrondissement).

Musée des Beaux-Arts, Dijon: plaster cast of the marble sculpture of Jeanne hearing her voices by François Rude (Côte-d'Or). The original statue can be seen in the Musée du Louvre in Paris.

Jeanne in Notre-Dame de Paris. On the left in 2014, in 2025 on the right: still the same after the 2019 fire.

Jeanne in the cathedral Notre-Dame of Reims (Marne).

Jeanne in the church of the Abbaye de la Trinité in Vendôme (Loir-et-Cher).

Jeanne in the catholic church Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes in Tiruchirappalli (Trichy), South India.

Jeanne facing the church of Notre-Dame-des-Anges in Pondicherry, South India.

Jeanne in a park in the seaside resort of Le Pouliguen (Loire-Atlantique).

Jeanne in front of the church of Saint-Pierre in Mont-Saint-Michel (Manche).

Jeanne in the church of Notre-Dame in Royan (Charente Maritime)

Two Jeanne from the same mould but seen from a different angle. The left one can be found in the church of Saint Louis in Rochefort (Charente Maritime). The right one is in the church of Saint-Philbert in Noirmoutier-en-l'île (Vendée).

Jeanne in the church of Saint-Sauveur in La Rochelle (Charente Maritime).

Not obvious at first sight, but these Jeanne are from the same mould... On the left, Jeanne in the basilica of Saint-Julien in Brioude (Haute-Loire). She is nicely coloured but has lost her banner. The Jeanne on the right is complete but has not been painted. She can be found in the church of Saint-Jean-Baptiste in Saujon (Charente Maritime)

A very doll-like Jeanne in the abbey church of La Chaise-Dieu (Haute-Loire).

Three Jeanne for the price of one? All must have been made from the same mould... The left one can be found in the cathedral Notre-Dame in Le Puy-en-Velay (Haute-Loire), the middle one is in the abbey church of Saint-Pierre-and-Saint-Caprais in Mozac (Puy-de-Dôme) and the right one comes from the church of Notre-Dame-des-Sablons in Aigues-Mortes (Gard). I have seen another one of those in the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont in Paris (6th arrondissement).

Three Jeanne from the same mould... The one on the left in the cathedral Saint-Etienne in Limoges (Haute-Vienne) has a broken banner. The one in the middle has been coloured and can be found in the church of Saint-François-de-Sales in the village of Bozel (Savoie). And finally, the one on the right is in the basilica of Saint-Sauveur in Dinan (Côtes d'Armor).

Jeanne in the cathedral Saint-Pierre of Rennes (Côtes d'Armor).

Jeanne in the small village church of Saint-Lery (Morbihan).

Not a statue but here she is represented on a stained-glass window in the church of Saint-Pierre des Sables d'Olonne (Vendée).

Jeanne in Oloron-Sainte-Marie (Pyrénées Atlantiques).

Stained-glass windows from the cathedral of Sainte-Cécile in Albi (Tarn).

Jeanne in the church of Notre-Dame-du-Taur in Réalmont (Tarn).

Jeanne in the church of Saint-Malo in le Minihic-sur-Rance (Ille-et-Vilaine).

On the left: Jeanne on Place des Pyramides in Paris (1st arrondissement). On the right: Jeanne facing Compiègne at the head of Pont Louis XV (Oise). I have the feeling that (except for some minor differences) they are from the same mould.

Petit Palais, Paris: plaster model of Jeanne d'Arc by Emmanuel Frémiet (1875). Frémiet is the sculptor who created the Jeanne d'Arc on her horse on Place des Pyramides (see previous picture).

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The collection is growing fast.

Poster for a theatre play where Sarah Bernhardt played the role of Jeanne d'Arc (Paris, musée Carnavalet).

Jeanne in the cathedral Saint-Jean of Besançon (Doubs).

Jeanne on place de l'hôtel de ville in Compiègne (Oise). Compiègne is the city where Jeanne's epic ended: when she arrived, the city was under siege from the Burgundians. In attempting to lift the siege, she multiplied her sorties against the enemy. The sortie of 23 May 1430 proved fatal: having strayed too far away she faced a sudden Burgundian counter-attack. She ordered the retreat and remained in the rearguard to fight to the last, just to find the drawbridge of Compiègne raised when she finally made it to the city. Betrayal or recklessness? Either way, Jeanne was unhorsed by an archer in close combat and captured by John of Luxembourg. He held her captive first in the castle of Beaulieu and then in the castle of Beaurevoir; she tried to escape from both. Not keen on keeping such a difficult captive, he eventually sold her to the English on 21 November 1430 for ten thousand pounds.

Jeanne in the church of Saint-Jacques in Compiègne where she used to worship while in the town (Oise). This statue is the work of the princess Marie d'Orléans, daughter of the King Louis-Philippe. It is a copy, the original is in the Château de Versailles.

Bronze statue of Jeanne in Orléans (Loiret). It is a reproduction of the one created by the princess Marie d'Orléans (see previous picture).

Stained-glass window in the church of Saint-Jacques in Compiègne (Oise). It shows Jeanne praying on the morning of the day she was captured.

Jeanne in the church of Saint-Antoine in Compiègne (Oise).

Series of stained-glass windows from the church of Saint-Antoine in Compiègne (Oise). From left to right: 1) Jeanne arrives in Compiègne 2) Jeanne is making a sortie on the Pont de l'Oise 3) The fighting Jeanne is grabbed by an archer.

Jeanne facing Compiègne at the head of the Pont de l'Oise (now Pont Louis XV).

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