Sainte Julie

'Lors de la prise de Carthage par les vandales...'

Unpublished board by Pichard for his unfinished 80's project based on 'The Golden Legend' by Jacobus de Varagine. Some of these pages were published by Glenat in 2013 as 'La perfection chretienne'. This page was not published in that volume and to my knowledge has not been published anywhere. 'The Golden Legend' project was abandoned in the mid-80s in favour of the another on-going project, 'The Perfect Christian'. While we don't know why 'The Golden Legend' was abandoned, it has been persuasively argued that Pichard was less interested in female Christian martyrs, and more in the punishment and torture of Christian women by their fellow Christians...

However, the story of St Julie of Corsica is not recounted in 'The Golden Legend', though her recorded devotion, pictured here, makes her a popular Saint. The prime source for St Julie is Historia persecutionis Africanae Provinciae, temporibus Geiserici et Hunirici regum Vandalorum, "History of the Persecution of the Province of Africa in the Time of Geiseric and Huniric, Kings of the Vandals", written by Victor Vitensis (c.430). Pichard would have read it in a French edition edited by Dom Thierry Ruinart (1657 - 1709), perhaps as part of his research for 'La perfection chretienne'. Certainly stylistically, it looks like a later work.

Given the ellipsis, it seems likely that there was to be at least one subsequent page. Sold into slavery by her Vandal captors, the overly devout Julie was given over to pagan Corsicans by the Syrian merchant Eusebius. Her head was shaved, she was flogged, and then crucified. Just the kind of thing that Pichard would have enjoyed drawing.

Pen, ink and whiteout on board
Board: 42 cms x 50 cms
Image: 29 cms x 44 cms