Saint George Slaying the Dragon, Veronese School, 17th century

In a compact format, our painting powerfully illustrates one of the most frequently depicted episodes of The Golden Legend in Western art: the combat of Saint George and the Dragon. According to Jacobus de Voragine, the saintly knight delivered the city of Silene (an ancient Roman province of the East) terrorized by a monster to which a human victim was offered each day. The moment depicted is when the princess (seen praying in the distance at right), chosen for sacrifice, advances toward the beast, and Saint George suddenly appears to rescue her. Clad in gleaming armor and mounted on a chestnut-and-piebald horse, he pierces the dragon’s flank with his lance, which shatters. A ray of light breaks through the clouds to illuminate the princess, reduced to a tiny silhouette, thereby reinforcing the monumentality of the duel and giving the work its simultaneously epic and sacred character.

This staging belongs to a vein characteristic of the painters of the Veronese school of the early Seicento, nourished by Venetian heritage and Caravaggesque naturalism. The slate support, rare but prized for its contrasts, evokes the practice of Alessandro Turchi, known as l’Orbetto, the principal Veronese painter active on stone, whose focused light and metallic highlights can be found here. The narrative tension and the vigor of the horse also echo the works of Marcantonio Bassetti or Pasquale Ottino. Enveloped in a tight chiaroscuro and a dynamic diagonal composition, our painting likely comes from the workshop of one of these masters.

The legend of George of Lydda, a Roman officer, was recounted around 1266 by the Archbishop of Genoa, Jacobus de Voragine, in the famous Golden Legend. The hagiographic account of Saint George, a true tool for promoting the Catholic faith, became a motif taken up by many artists from the Middle Ages onward.
Born in the East in the 3rd century, brought to the West by the Crusades and venerated in the West, the saint is said to have delivered the city of Silene (Roman province of Libya) from a dragon that, after devouring its daily tribute of animals and children, demanded the king’s own daughter.

The combat of George against the dragon gave rise to an important iconography especially from the 13th century onward; it embodies the chivalric ideal and symbolizes the victory of Good over Evil.

Like a jewel case, the late 17th-century Emilian carved and gilt wood frame enhances our precious painting.
Dimensions: 17 x 12.7 cm (slate) – 39 x 37 cm with the frame