The Vision and Inspiration (Joan of Arc series: I)

Louis Maurice Boutet de Monvel

National Gallery of Art

A woman to our right kneels with her hands in prayer as she looks to our left at a vision in a landscape in this horizontal painting. The vision is of a person wearing gold armor, who is flanked by two more people, all encased an oval-shaped full-body halo. The people all have smooth, pale skin, and the women have ash-blond hair. The armored person, Saint Michael, has copper-colored hair and he hovers, feet hanging loose, low over the ground. His body is angled sharply to our right. Both of his arms are outstretched in front of him at shoulder height, and he holds up a gold sword with his right hand. The end of the long sword disappears into the leafy canopy above. Pale pink and blue wings spread from his shoulders. The people to either side of him both wear white dresses patterned with gold designs, and each stands on a shell-pink cloud. The woman closer to us has a halo and holds a silver helmet. The woman farther from us holds out a long, slender, silver sword with both hands. The encompassing halo is ringed with narrow flames. This trio and the halo take up the leftmost third of the composition. They are backed and surrounded by olive-green and golden brown trees. A thick tree trunk immediately to their right has two gouges taken from near the roots. The kneeling woman wears a black scarf and pink jacket-like garment over a long beige dress. She faces our left in profile, looking up at Saint Michael with her lips parted and her eyebrows lifted. Six cream-white sheep stand and lie on the ground behind her, to our right. A basket near her feet has tipped over, spilling its white contents. Grassy hills dotted with pale green trees extends into the deep distance. Puffy peach clouds line the horizon, which comes just over halfway up the composition. The artist signed the lower left corner, “M.Boutet de Monvel.”