New medals of Joan of Arc

| 19/12/2025

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We are pleased to announce the online release of 75 new items, spanning from the first half of the 19th century to the contemporary period, all dedicated to the emblematic figure of Joan of Arc. Through medals, such as the one by Serge Ponomarew, casts, and plaques, CGB invites you to rediscover the Maid of Orléans.

Born around 1412 in Domrémy, Joan of Arc distinguished herself during the Hundred Years’ War through an epic that was in fact brief yet decisive. Captured, tried in Rouen, and burned at the stake in 1431, she was rehabilitated in 1456, at the initiative of her mother Isabelle Romée and her brothers Pierre and Jean, who appealed to Pope Callixtus III. She quickly became a figure of martyrdom, faith, and courage.

From the 15th century onward, chroniclers such as Jean Chartier, in his Latin Chronicle, explicitly drew parallels between the Passion of Christ and the martyrdom of Joan of Arc. This interpretation was later taken up in the modern era, notably by Carl Theodor Dreyer in his film The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928), echoed by a medal created by Geneviève Pons-Vignon, featured in this release. A major figure in French history, Joan of Arc is also an image with which people have sought to identify, as illustrated by the medal by Marie d’Orléans, Duchess of Württemberg (1937).

The iconography of Joan of Arc developed gradually: rarely depicted during her lifetime, she later became the subject of numerous artistic interpretations, sometimes idealized. National heroine, saint, symbol of resistance, or strong female figure, Joan of Arc is an image many have sought to appropriate. This diversity of representations is reflected in the medium of the medal: religious medals, award medals, and commemorative medals.

From the 550th anniversary of the liberation of Orléans to the fifth centenary of her death, Joan of Arc continues to be honored to this day. Our website now offers this wide variety of objects, bearing witness to a living and enduring tribute, available to discover now.