Joan of arc is a very popular figure in media so her image is subject to a lot of bending. Sometimes it’s very subtle, and other times it’s very apparent. There’s no official pictures or paintings of her that survived from her time, but there are several trial transcripts that describe her, as well as first hand reports and letters from those who worked beside her that do the same.
The general consensus within these that I found on her appearance was that Joan was pretty short and stocky. Her eyes were far apart, and somewhat large, her hair was black/dark brown and close cut, and she had a fairly common looking face. Multiple people report that she had a red birthmark behind her left ear and a low but sweet voice. A surprising amount is written about her physical strength despite her small stature. I would suggest you read De Boulainvilliers’ (Chamberlain to Charles VII) letters, among others. He knew her first hand and goes into a lot of depth about her appearance and aura.
A big part of her rebranding is making her seem older, more feminine, paler, and blonder. Due to color/racism as well as light representing purity, renditions of her make her whiter (she was a poor farmer from mid/south France which means she was on the darker side of white complexions) to show holiness. People also make her more feminine due to stigma against women who “don’t look like women” and to lean into her Virgin Mary esk aura.
(Here’s two paintings I found that more accurately represent her image)
This entry was posted by jbc on Thursday, March 26th, 2020 at 8:40 am and is filed under Tumblr.
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