Joan of Arc (Portrait) (by Dante Gabriel Rossetti) Tissue Paper

This design features a painting by the English artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882), who was famously associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood movement. It shows Joan of Arc, the French national heroine who lived in the early 15th century. Joan of Arc is remembered for her leadership in several important French victories of the Hundred Years’ War. She was also known as The Maid of Orléans ("La Pucelle d'Orléans") or The Maid of Lorraine ("La Pucelle de Lorraine"). She was also canonised as a saint. However, at the time Joan was put on trial for heresy where she was found guilty and was burned at the stake in 1431 at just 19 years old. Rossetti used Jane Morris, William Morris’s wife, as his model for this work. The original painting was completed in 1882, and it is now on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England.