In the exhibition at the Wallach Gallery of the sculpture of Anna Hyatt Huntington (1876-1973), the viewer discovers different versions of the emblematic figure that is Joan of Arc, from the smallest of bronze medals, to much larger works of art. A digital replica of the original statue that was unveiled at Riverside Drive and 93rd Street in December 1915 is also available to the public in the gallery. The success of representations of Joan of Arc – or The Maid of Orleans – results from the symbol she maintains in European and American culture: a patriotic medieval French heroine who received visions directly from God and to whom he was asked to help France fight English domination and died burned alive, as a martyr. It survives in fact through the multiple representations that have been made of this historical and popular figure. Arguably, these layers of representations amount to “copies” of Joan of Arc herself: copies of a lost original, recreated each time it is depicted by a different artist or narrator. And now we have a copy of a 1915 depiction of Joan of Arc – or, one might say, a copy of a copy of Joan of Arc. But what is the real value of a copy? Is the Riverside Drive statue worth more than the other depictions on display in the Wallach Gallery? What does rotating photography bring to the initial work of art? Is something lost with the evolution of reproductive imagery, such as the emotion of the moment, the spontaneity of the artist's hand - the "aura" of the original (as Walter called it Benjamin)? Images of Joan of Arc generate symbols of patriotism all over the world, linked to French nationalism, fresh youth and the fair sex. It has inspired hundreds of works of art, from plaster casts to paper rectangles......g digital museums already exist, as they would allow more people to discover in-demand works of art , without having to queue and be surrounded by people. Progress in digital imaging will become even more impeccable, but we must not forget that it remains a copy, and that nothing is worth being transported by the emotion and magic of contemplating the image. work of art itself.Works CitedTodorov, Tzvetan. Theories of the symbol. Ithaca, NY: Cornell UP, 1982. Print.Catalogue, Wallach Gallery Exhibition Anna Hyatt HuntingtonCoyle, Laura. Universal Patriot: Joan of Arc in America during the Golden Age, the Great War and America. Washington, DC: Corcoran Gallery of Art in association with D. Giles, 2006. Print. Benjamin, Walter and JA Underwood. The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.