Her Appeal to the Dauphin (Joan of Arc series: II)

Louis Maurice Boutet de Monvel

National Gallery of Art

Dozens of people, all with pale peach skin, cluster tightly beyond a person kneeling at the center of this horizontal painting. The composition is filled from edge to edge with colorful patterns in the clothing, a wall-covering in the background, an area rug, and the tile floor, creating a collage-like effect. The men wear floor-length robes or tunics and stockings, and most wear hats or turbans. The women wear long, high-waisted dresses and tall, cone-shaped hats with veils or fabric draped from the peaks. Their garments are patterned in tones of burgundy, rust, and crimson red, forest and spring green, marigold orange, lemon and golden yellow, rose pink, and azure blue. The person kneeling at the center has chin-length blond hair, and wears a black, long-sleeved tunic, pointed black shoes, and gray stockings. That person faces our left in profile and raises a straight right arm to shoulder height, palm down and fingers extended, toward a standing man wearing a royal-blue robe to our left. Pale yellow, mauve-pink, and white flowers are strewn on the tiled floor in front of the crowd.