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Three years later, Kalmakoff undertook a new commission: to paint a chapel dedicated to Jeanne d'Arc. As the patron saint of France, Joan of Arc was canonized in 1920 in recognition of the spiritual aid and courage she brought to the French during the First World War. It was a subject to which Kalmakoff was eminently suited. The artist executed one large painting (The Triumph of Joan of Arc - 1930 above), then began another (Joan Before her Judges - c 1931 below) and also drew the cartoon for a detailed diptych (Joan at the Stake- 1931). But, for reasons unknown, the project was abandoned. The unfinished Joan Before her Judges remains valuable because it preserves signs of Kalmakoff's oil technique. A methodical worker, he painted each figure a la prima and directly from the underdrawing (leaving the most important figures until last). Mgebrov remembers that "like the old masters, he never bought his colours but prepared them himself from plants and herbs, researching their permanence to bring a certain perenniality to his works - so that he could survive the ages. Like the painters of old, he had his original and very solitary way of doing things." This may explain why much of the fleshtone in his works has taken on a greenish tinge, exactly as one sees in Byzantine icons, particularly of the Early Italian School.
С образом злого духа Калмаков нередко связывал и свои автопортреты мефистофельский характер многих из них очевиден. Таков Автопортрет в стиле Людовика XIV (1923), где художник предстает в образе своего любимого писателя Гофмана. Его огромные глаза излучают зловещий блеск, тонкий рот изогнут в презрительной улыбке. Любопытно, что к себе он трогательно прижимает одного из любимейших персонажей гофмановских сказок маленького Цахеса. Это отвратительное фантастическое существо усиливает и без того дьявольский характер автопортрета.