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St. George Slaying the Dragon

Painting
Egg tempera painting on flat wood panel. Saint George is the central figure clean shaven with brown hair surrounded by a halo sitting upright in gold armor, salmon colored cape, blue blouse, and green trousers. He sits on a white horse who is grinning with teeth bared while St. George kills a small brown winged dragon below him by stabbing it with a black staff with a cross on top. A princess in gold crown, blue veil, and salmon and green dress watches from the ground and God Pantocrator watches in the upper left corner. Small landscape with trees, mountains and a pink colored castle is behind them. An inscription on the top in contemporary Russian and vibrant rolling hills with a lake is in the foreground. On the back is a faded brown piece of paper that dates the piece to the XVIII Century in English in black cursive ink.

2005.02.084

Panel

Tempera

Betsy Scheuring Icon Collection

2005.02

Betsy Scheuring

Gift

Gift of Betsy Scheuring

18th Century

Ukraine

Label

Back of icon

English summary of piece in cursive on paper

10-3/4 in

8-1/2 in

1 in

Selections From The Permanent Collection (2010)

Spirit Made Tangible: The Scheuring Icon Collection (2006)

Cultural/Historical Context

"For the biography of St. George, see 2005.02.047. Here St. George is portrayed in a traditional pose, mounted on a white horse and spearing a dragon as Jesus Christ looks down from heaven, and a fair maiden stands rescued, with the city of Selena forming a partial backdrop. The artist added the city’s king and queen, parents of the sacrificial maiden, standing on the battlements in the background. This westernized version features well-modeled forms, bright coloring, linear perspective, and differs stylistically from traditional Byzantine paintings of the saint like that seen in 2005.02.047."

St. George Slaying the Dragon picture number 1