Saint George and the Dragon (Rubens)

Saint George and the Dragon

Artist	Peter Paul Rubens
Year	ca. 1605–07
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	309 cm × 257 cm (122 in × 101 in)
Location	Museo del Prado, Madrid

Saint George and the Dragon is a painting by Peter Paul Rubens (c. 1605-07), based upon the motif with the same name.

It was painted in Genoa (Saint George is the patron of this city) while Rubens was in Italy to complete his artistic training on behalf of his mentor at the time, Otto van Veen. Many scholars speculate the work was originally commissioned for the Church of Sant’Ambrogio, which was dedicated to Saint George. If so, the commissioner never received the masterpiece, due to the artist holding on to his work until he died in 1640, where Felipe IV procured the piece. It is currently housed in the Museo del Prado of Madrid. ^[1]

Iconography

In the painting the princess represents the church as a whole, and the lamb she is grasping represents the innocence and purity of the church, and Saint George and his steed symbolize the triumph of good over evil as the Saint George stares the beast down from literally “on high”. To reiterate, Saint George’s right foot prominently highlighted above the dragon signifies that the dragon (darkness, devil, evil) is in every way beneath Saint George and the light that envelops him and the princess. In opposition, the dragon’s form, which very much resembles a serpent, rather than the typical lizard, or dinosaur-like depiction of dragons, an allegory to the classic tale of Adam and Eve, where in Satan takes the form of a serpent.

Notes

↑ "Saint George and the Dragon". Archived from the original on 2007-10-12. Retrieved 2007-09-29.

External links

Media related to Saint George and the Dragon by Rubens at Wikimedia Commons

Peter Paul Rubens
Works (paintings and drawings)	Leda and the Swan (1601, 1602) The Deposition (1602) Self-Portrait in a Circle of Friends from Mantua (1602–1605) Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma (1603) Portrait of a Young Woman (1603) Hercules and Omphale (1603) Heraclitus and Democritus (1603) Virgin and Child (c. 1604) The Fall of Phaeton (c. 1604/1605) The Circumcision (1605) Portrait of Marchesa Brigida Spinola-Doria (1606) Portrait of a Noblewoman with a Dwarf (1606) Portrait of Giovanni Carlo Doria on Horseback (1606) Madonna della Vallicella (1606–1608) Susanna and the Elders (1607) Adoration of the Magi (Prado) (1609; 1628–29) Samson and Delilah (1609–10) Honeysuckle Bower (1609–10) Juno and Argus (1610) Raising of the Cross (1610–11) Conversion of Saint Paul (1610–1612) Massacre of the Innocents (c. 1611) Venus Frigida (1611) Prometheus Bound (1611–12) The Four Philosophers (1611–12) Antwerp Resurrection (1611–12) Descent from the Cross (1612–1614) Saint Teresa of Ávila's Vision of the Holy Spirit (1612–1614) The Tribute Money (1612-1614) The Defeat of Sennacherib (1612–1614) The Four Continents (1610s) Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter (1612–1614) Portrait of a Commander (1613) The Crowning of the Virtuous Hero (1613–14) The Incredulity of Saint Thomas (1613–1615) The Death of Adonis (1614) St Sebastian (c. 1614) Madonna della Cesta (1615) Ixion, King of the Lapiths, Deceived by Juno, Who He Wished to Seduce (1615) Daniel in the Lions' Den (1615) The Hippopotamus and Crocodile Hunt (1615–16) The Tiger Hunt (1615–16) Theodosius and Saint Ambrose (1615–16) Florence Resurrection (1616) The Virgin and Child Surrounded by the Holy Innocents (1616) Erichthonius Discovered by the Daughters of Cecrops (c. 1616) The Wolf and Fox Hunt (c. 1616) The Lion and Leopard Hunt (c. 1616) Romulus and Remus (1615–16) Adoration of the Magi (Cambridge) (1616–17) Saint Stephen Triptych (1616–17) Two Women with a Candle (1616-17) Adoration of the Magi (Lyon) (1617–18) Descent from the Cross (1616–17) The Meeting Between Abraham and Melchizedek (1616–17) Christ and the Penitent Sinners (1617) Mars and Rhea Silvia (1617) The Garden of Eden with the Fall of Man (1617) The Great Last Judgement (1617) A Bearded Man (c. 1617–18) The Five Senses (1617–18) Two Satyrs (1618) Medusa (1618) The Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus (c. 1618) The Union of Earth and Water (c. 1618) Tigress with Her Cubs (1618) Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee (1618–1620) St Mary Magdalene in Ecstasy (1619–20) The Small Last Judgement (1619) Conversion of Saint Paul (1620s) The Fall of the Damned (ca. 1620) Landscape with Philemon and Baucis (ca. 1620) Saint George and the Dragon (c. 1620) Perseus Freeing Andromeda (1620) Saints Dominic and Francis Saving the World from Christ's Anger (1620) The Virgin Mary and Saint Francis Saving the World from Christ's Anger The Rape of Orithyia by Boreas (1620) Christ on the Cross (1620) The Three Graces (1620–1623) Isabella Brant (c. 1621) The Lion Hunt (1621) Marie de' Medici cycle (1621–1630) Portrait of Susanna Lunden (1622) Perseus and Andromeda (c. 1622) The History of Constantine (1622–1625) Self-Portrait (1623) The Conversion of Saint Bavo (1623–24) Diana and Her Nymphs Leaving for the Hunt (1623–24) Adoration of the Magi (Antwerp) (1624) The Reconciliation of Esau and Jacob (1624) Christ Appointing Saint Roch as Patron Saint of Plague Victims (1623–1626) Portrait of Infante Isabella Clara Eugenia (1625) The Triumph of the Church (1635) Assumption of the Virgin Mary (1625–26) Angelica and the Hermit (c. 1626–1628) Henry IV at the Battle of Ivry (1627) The Triumphal Entry of Henry IV into Paris (1627) The Annunciation (1627–28) The Fall of Man (1628–29) The Rape of Europa (1628–29) Minerva Protecting Peace from Mars (1629–30) Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata (c. 1630) The Ildefonso Altarpiece (1630–31) Odysseus on the Island of the Phaecians (1630–1635) The Finding of Erichthonius (1632–1634) The Garden of Love (c. 1633) The Rape of the Sabine Women (1634–1636) The Feast of Venus (c. 1635) The Dance of the Villagers (1635) Helena Fourment with Her Son Frans (1635) The Village Fête (1635–1638) Hercules' Dog Discovers Purple Dye (c. 1636) Helena Fourment with Children (1636) A View of Het Steen in the Early Morning (1636) Saturn (1636) The Rainbow Landscape (1636) Het Pelsken (1636–1638) The Origin of the Milky Way (c. 1637) Consequences of War (c. 1638) Hercules in the Garden of the Hesperides / Deianira Listens to Fame (1638) The Three Graces (1636–1638) The Rape of Ganymede (1636–1638) Diana and Callisto (1637–38) Helena Fourment with a Carriage (1638) Self-Portrait (1638–39) The Peasants Returning From The Fields (1640) Judgment of Paris (various)
Books	Palazzi di Genova (1622)
Related people	Rubens family Jan Rubens (father) Maria Pypelinckx (mother) Isabella Brant (first wife) Helena Fourment (second wife) Nicolaas Rubens, Lord of Rameyen (son) Albert I Rubens (son) Philip I Rubens (brother) Tobias Verhaecht (teacher) Adam van Noort (teacher) Otto van Veen (teacher) Nicolaas II Rockox (friend)
Related	Rubenshuis (family home) Poussinists and Rubenists Rubens (1977 film) Rubenesque

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