Art Institute of Chicago

Joan of Arc

Jan Toorop

Date

1898

Medium

Graphite and colored pencils on tan wove board

Culture

Netherlands

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Imbued with the sinuous linear style of Toorop’s most celebrated works, this small drawing merges medieval subject matter with the graphic language of Symbolism. Cleverly situated within the voids of a capital letter E , Toorop’s title figure recalls the conventions of medieval manuscript illumination. Indeed, like many of Toorop’s drawings, this work was likely intended for inclusion in a book. The swirling parallel lines in the saint’s hair and the intensity of her downcast posture assert the sympathetic interpretation Toorop offered of this warrior saint, whose canonization was not finalized until 1920.

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