St Joan of Arc

This pastel drawing is one of the many depictions of heroic figures portrayed by Sir William Blake Richmond. Some of his most famous works depict mythological characters and stories such as The Song of Miriam (1870-81), Electra at the Tomb of Agamemnon (1877) and Icarus (1887). However, this drawing is one of the rare examples of the artist chosing to portray a historical figure. The fascination in Britain for all things Medieval encouraged a number of artists to interpret the 15th Century subject of Joan of Arc. Some famous examples are Paul Delaroche's painting of 1824, Rossetti (1864), Millais (1865), and Saint Joan by J.W. Waterhouse. From 1885 to 1909, Richmond worked on a large oil painting of Joan of Arc, which now belongs to a private collection (ref. S. Reynolds William Blake Richmond: An Artist's Life, 1842-1921, plate XXX, illustrated in colour). The public's interest in Joan of Arc was at it's height at the beginning of the 20th Century, she was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920.