Joan of Arc is interrogated by The Cardinal of Winchester in her prison

Paul Delaroche's Joan of Arc is Interrogated by the Cardinal of Winchester of 1824 depicts the Maid of Orléans before her English captors — one of the key scenes in the political trial that would lead to her execution as a witch and heretic. The subject combined French nationalist sentiment with the Romantic interest in innocent heroism crushed by political power. Joan of Arc was being reclaimed for French national identity during the Restoration period, and Delaroche's treatment established her psychological dignity against the Cardinal's intimidating interrogation.

Delaroche creates dramatic tension through the confrontation between the humble maid and the powerful churchman in a dark cell. His precise rendering of medieval costume and architecture establishes the historical specificity that became his signature.