Jeanne d'Arc

Art Historical Context

This gilt bronze bust of Jeanne d'Arc, created by French Antonin Mercié between1875 and 0, captures the likeness of France’s celebrated national heroine. Mercié working in the academic tradition the late nineteenth century employed the demanding lost-w casting technique to model figure’s head and shoulders crisp detail before applying a thin layer gold. The resulting warm luster heightens the sculpture’s presence, transforming a modest-sized work—measuring just over twenty-two inches high—into an object that seems to glow from within. As a bust rather than a full-length statue, the piece invi...