Joan of Arc (c.1412-1431)
Princess Marie-Christine d'Orleans (1813-1839)
Category
Art / Sculpture
Date
circa 1838
Materials
Bronze
Measurements
3340 x 1020 x 900 mm
Order this imageCollection
Cliveden Estate, Buckinghamshire
On show at
Cliveden Estate, Buckinghamshire, London and South East, National Trust
NT 766374
Caption
A bronze life sized sculpture of Joan of Arc on a marble pedestal in the Ilex Grove. The sculpture was designed by Princess Marie-Christine d’Orleans, who was a regular visitor to Cliveden and signed the piece with the MO monogram. This statue emphasises the close relationship between the Sutherland family and the French royal family.
Summary
Bronze sculpture, Joan of Arc (c.1412-1431) Bronze cast by Eck and Durand after marble original by Princess Marie-Christine d'Orleans (1813-1839). Life size statue on marble pedestal. Female figure stands in skirt and armour, right foot forward, arms crossed holding sword to her, head bowed. Her helmet and gloves rest on the circular pedestal behind her. Screwed onto square lead-covered base and marble pedestal inset with lead letters.
Full description
The Duke (1786 – 1861) and Duchess of Sutherland (1808 – 1868) were avid collectors and made extensive acquisitions of modern French sculpture. They had introductions to a number of people whose political power or sheer wealth made them prominent patrons of art or directors of state patronage in these years, starting with the Orléans family itself. They had known Louis-Philippe before the July Revolution. A reminder of the connection between the Sutherlands and the Orléans family survives at Cliveden in the form of this full-size bronze version of the celebrated statue of Joan of Arc by Louise Philippe’s sculptress daughter, Princess Marie d’Orléans. The Minister of the Interior, ex-art critic Adolphe Thiers, was also a friend, and proffered the Sutherlands advice on the furnishing of their Staffordshire house, Trentham Hall. His suggestion that they should use as part of their decorative scheme reproductions of the casts, made for the Ecole des Beaux- Arts, of Ghiberti's Baptistery doors, was turned down by the Duke with regret as 'altogether perhaps too much of an extravagance'. Adapted from Philip Ward-Jackson, ‘A.-E. Carrier-Belleuse, J.-J. Feuchère and the Sutherlands’ in The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 127, No. 984 (March 1985), p. 147.
Provenance
After smaller marble original 1863 at Windsor - later bronze cast 1867 at Balmoral.
Marks and inscriptions
Front - Jeanne D'Arc Par La Princesse Marie D'Orleans; Right side - La Pittie Qu'il y Avait Du Royaume de France; Left side - Elle Amait Tant La France; Back - plain
Makers and roles
Princess Marie-Christine d'Orleans (1813-1839), sculptor
References
Philip Ward-Jackson, 'A.-E. Carrier-Belleuse, J.-J. Feuchère and the Sutherlands’ in The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 127, No. 984 (March 1985), pp. 146-153.