Questions about the artist. Where was the artist born? What did his father do for a living? How did Turner happen to draw his first picture? Why did he not learn much at school? What did his father do with his drawings? What subject proved difficult for the boy artist to learn? Was he ever able to master it? Where did Turner travel? What colors did he use in his paintings? Why would he not sell his pictures? How did he become wealthy?
JOAN OF ARC
Questions to arouse interest. What is represented in this picture? Where is it supposed to be? What is the girl doing? How many figures can you see faintly suggested against the trees and the house? Why do you think they are not real like the girl? What can you see in the distance? What can you tell about Joan of Arc? Where does she seem to be looking? How is she dressed? What is there about her that makes you think she is used to hard work? that she is serious and thoughtful? that she must be very much in earnest? that she is forgetful of self? Where does the light in the picture seem to come from?
Original Picture: Metropolitan Art Museum, New York City.
Artist: Jules Bastien-Lepage (bȧs´ tyaN´-lẽ päzh´).
Birthplace: Damvillers, France.
Dates: Born, 1848; died, 1884.
The story of the picture. Far away among the wild hills of France, in the village of Domremy, lived Joan of Arc, the “Maid of Orleans.” Her father was a small farmer, and all her people were working people. Joan’s life was not an idle one, for we are told that she was an expert at sewing and spinning, that she tended the sheep and cattle, and rode the horses to and from the watering places. But she could neither read nor write, as she had received no education. When she wished to send a letter she would dictate it to some one who could write, and then make the mark of a cross at the top. As she was of an intensely religious nature, she often wandered off by herself and remained in prayer for hours, sometimes in the fields or the great forest near by, and sometimes in the village church.