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''St. George'' or ''St. George and the Dragon'' is a small painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael, executed ''c.'' 1503-1505. It is housed in the Louvre in Paris. A later version of the same subject is the ''
St. George
Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...
'' in the National Gallery of Art
The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...
in Washington, D.C.
History
This painting and the equally small '' Saint Michael'', also in the Louvre, are a pair. In the Mazarin Collection they were joined together, forming a diptych, and bound in leather. Louis XIV acquired them from Mazarin's heirs in 1661. ''Saint George'' has sometimes been ascribed to the artist's Roman period, because the horse resembles one of the horses ofMonte Cavallo
Monte Cavallo is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Macerata in the Italian region Marche, located about southwest of Ancona and about southwest of Macerata.
Monte Cavallo borders the following municipalities: Pieve Torina, Serrav ...
(the Quirinal Palace). However, Raphael could easily have known this particular horse from a drawing of it, done by one of Leonardo
Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard
Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname.
The given name and surname originate ...
's pupils. To judge by the still somewhat naïve and Peruginesque style of the painting, it is really one of Raphael's early works, dating from about 1504. He did another painting of the same subject a little later (the mentioned panel in Washington D. C.), and towards the end of his life he painted a large '' Sant Michael'' which is also in the Louvre.
Giovanni Lomazzo, in his ''Trattato della Pittura'' (1584), mentions a ''Saint George'' by Raphael, commissioned by the Duke of Urbino, which was painted on a little chess-board (''tavoliere''). According to the old catalogues the small ''Saint Michael'', if not the saint George as well, had a draught-board on the back which is now covered over.G. P. Lomazzo, ''Trattato Dell' Arte Della Pittura Scultura Ed Architettura'', (reprint) Kessinger Publishing (2010). Examination by means of X-rays and infrared has not confirmed this statement. In the abovementioned book, Lomazzo seems to have confused various pictures of the same subject. If one can rely to some extent on his late and somewhat muddled testimony, it is possible that the two paintings in the Louvre were painted for the Duke of Urbino.
The Uffizi Gallery has a pen-and-wash cartoon for the ''Saint George'' (seen here below).
See also
*List of paintings by Raphael
The following is a list of paintings by Italian Renaissance painter Raphael. Together with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci he forms the traditional trinity of great masters of that period. He was enormously prolific, despite his early death at ...
Notes
Further reading
* J. Pitman, ''Raphael Trail: The Secret History of One of the World's Most Precious Works of Art'' (2006)External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:St. George (Raphael, Louvre) 1500s paintings Paintings in the Louvre by Italian artists Paintings by Raphael Horses in art Religious paintings Paintings of dragons Raphael Saint George and the Dragon