Jeanne d'Arc (Frémiet)

Jeanne d'Arc is a gilded bronze equestrian sculpture of Joan of Arc by Emmanuel Frémiet inaugurated in 1874.

History
The original statue was commissioned by the French government following the defeat of the country in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War. It is the only public commission of the French state during the period 1870-1914, called the Golden Age of statuary in Paris, the other statues were funded by private subscriptions.

The sculptor Emmanuel Frémiet, took as his model Aimée Girod (1856-1937), a young woman from Domrémy, Joan of Arc's village in Lorraine.

The statue was inaugurated in 1874. The pedestal was designed by the architect Paul Abadie.

The artist, who made another version of the monument for the city of Nancy in 1889, replaced 10 years later the horse of the Parisian monument by a copy of the smaller Nancy one, which earned him criticism.

The monument was classified as a historic monument, on March 31, 1992.

Reviving a tradition from the far-right leagues, on every May Day, the National Front holds an annual ceremony in honor of Joan of Arc at the statue.

Locations
The original work is located at the Place des Pyramides, in Paris, near where Joan of Arc was wounded during her failed attempt to take Paris.

Other copies can be seen at:
 * Nancy, France,
 * New Orleans,
 * Philadelphia,
 * Portland, Oregon,
 * Melbourne, Australia.