eaning slightly against a tree and her eyes looking upward. Her left arm is stretched out away from her body and holding the end branch of a young flexible tree, while her right arm is at her side with her hand cupped against her dress. The smoothness in the contours of her skin and the ways the textures are represented on her clothing, with the folding and shadowing, are all done well. The use of the different shades of color for the skin tones, clothing, and their shading show Bastien-Lapage’s skill in capturing this naturalistic image. Behind Joan, in the upper left of the painting, the three saints are hovering above the ground. St. Michael is positioned perfectly upright with a majestic look as he is holding a sword away from his body horizontally with both hands. His body is covered with a golden body suit of armor except for his head, which is turned toward Joan and has a full halo behind it. Margaret and Catherine are both wearing white silky and flowing veils on their heads. There are white flowers in their hair, and both have golden circles over their heads as halos. Their dresses are also flowing and painted with light pink and blue. Margaret is positioned upright, her hands clasped by her chest, and her head to the side looking towards Joan, while Catherine is bent over with her head facing down and both hands over her face. Bastien-Lepage showed his ability for capturing the naturalistic look of Joan, but he did not use this ability to its full extent with the saints. The colors used on the saints are not quite as vivid as with Joan. Michael’s golden body armor and silver sword are not really shining at all, and all three halos seem to be placed there without any real signs of glowing. The shadowing and detail work in their clothing and skin are also not quite as life like as Joan. All together the three images of these saints appear to be somewhat hazy.The rest of the painting is a landscape of J...
