Joan of Arc
Artist: Huntington, Anna Vaughn Hyatt, 1876-1973, sculptor
With: Van Pelt, John, 1874-1962, architect
Status: In Situ and Within Riverside Park
Title: Joan of Arc
Dates: Original modeled 1910. Commissioned 1914. Dedicated Dec. 6, 1915.
Medium: Bronze; Base; Mohican Mohegan granite with pieces of limestone from the tower in Rouen where Joan of Arc was imprisoned, as well as a stone fragment from Reims Cathedral.
Dimensions: 11 ft. x 48 in. x 114 in.; Base: approx. 13 ft. 6 in. x 8 ft. 4 in. x 160 in. Total H. 20 ft. 4 in. W: 6 ft. 1 in. D. 12 ft. 3 in.
Description: Joan of Arc as the Maid of Orleans in full armor mounted on a heavy charger, standing in her stirrups with an uplifted sword. The base is decorated with arches in the Gothic style.
Inscription: JOAN OF ARC / BORN AT / DOMREMY FRANCE / JANUARY 6TH,1411 / BURNED AT THE STAKE AT / ROUEN, FRANCE / MAY 30TH, 1431/
ERECTED BY / THE JOAN OF ARC STATUE COMMITTEE / IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK 1915.
Owner: New York City Department of Parks & Recreation
Located Riverside Park & West 93rd Street, New York New York
Remarks: The base was designed by collaborating architect, John Van Pelt. The base incorporated pieces of limestone taken from the tower in Rouen where Joan was confined. In addition, a fragment of a pilaster from the Cathedral at Reims was worked into the base. On Dec. 1, 1915 a time capsule consisting of a copper box measuring 6 x 8 1/2 by 12 inches was placed in the base. Anna Huntington created the original plaster model for this work in 1910 and received an honorable mention for it at the 1910 Salon in Paris. In 1914, the Joan of Arc Committee commissioned her to create this statue to mark the 500th anniversary of Joan of Arc’s birth. The statue was donated to the City of New York by the Joan of Arc Committee, but was largely the gift of J. Sanford Saltus. Cost twenty-five thousand dollars. The sculpture is one of many versions realized by Hyatt Huntington, including the first which was submitted to the Salon in Paris, where it received an honorable mention. Following World War I, replicas of the Joan of Arc sculpture were placed in 1921 in Gloucester, Blois, France, and Quebec City, Canada, and in 1926 an additional replica installed in front of the Palace of the Legion of Honor in Lincoln Park, San Francisco. In 1939, NYC Parks repaired Joan’s sword, which had been broken, repatinated the bronze statue, and repaired the staircase. In 1987, the sculpture was again conserved through the Municipal Art Society’s Adopt-A-Monument Program. Today, volunteers of the Joan of Arc Statue Committee continue to maintain the sculpture and its surrounding grounds.
Refernces: Gayle, Margot & Michele Cohen, “Guide to Manhattan’s Outdoor Sculpture,” New York: Prentice Hall, 1988, pg. 283-24.
National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, NY0009, 1989.
Lederer, Joseph, “All Around the Town: A Walking Guide to Outdoor Sculpture in New York City,” New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1975.
Durante, Dianne L., Outdoor Monument of Manhattan: A Historical Guide, New York: New York University Press, 2007, 208-210.