ABSTRACT
Napoleon Bonaparte interest in this image of Joan of Arc - if Crignon-Desormeau heard of it - could have emboldened the mayor, for any new public monument in Orleans would require national monies and consular approval. Joan of Arc, as a recognizable image of martial strength and national unity, presented an especially appealing figure for Napoleon during the Consulate. Napoleon himself donated 6,000 francs to the national subscription for the permanent version of the monument to the Maid of Orleans, and members of Napoleon's administration dutifully followed suit. Edme-Etienne-Francois Gois indefatigable woman warrior, first monument to the Maid in the nineteenth century, was the last large scale sculpture in France to portray Joan of Arc as a classicizing incarnation of liberating war. A vibrant representation of patriotic inspiration, she offered an embodiment of the French people that was as stirring as Apollo and as heroic as Hercules, but with the advantage of being historic rather than mythic, and wholly french.
