| Saint George and the Dragon | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Raphael |
| Year | c. 1503–1505 |
| Medium | Oil on wood |
| Dimensions | 31 cm × 27 cm (12 in × 11 in) |
| Location | Louvre,Paris |
Saint George orSaint George and the Dragon is a smallpainting by theItalianRenaissance artistRaphael, executedc. 1503–1505. It is housed in theLouvre inParis. A later version of the same subject is theSaint George and the Dragon in theNational Gallery of Art inWashington, D.C.
This painting and the equally smallSaint Michael, also in theLouvre,[1] are a pair. In theMazarin Collection they were joined together, forming adiptych, and bound in leather.Louis XIV acquired them from Cardinal Mazarin's heirs in 1661.[2]
TheSaint George has sometimes been ascribed to the artist's Roman period, because the horse resembles one of the horses ofMonte Cavallo (theQuirinal Palace). However, Raphael could easily have known this particular horse from a drawing of it, done by one ofLeonardo's pupils.[3] To judge by the still somewhat naïve andPeruginesque style of the painting, it is really one of Raphael's early works, dating from about 1504. He produced another painting of the same subject a little later (the aforementioned panel in Washington D.C.), and towards the end of his life he painted a largeSaint Michael which is also in theLouvre.
Giovanni Lomazzo, in hisTrattato della Pittura (1584), mentions aSaint George by Raphael, commissioned by theDuke of Urbino, which was painted on a "little chess-board" (tavoliere). According to the old catalogues the smallSaint Michael, if not theSaint George as well, had a draughts-board on the back which is now covered over.[4] 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.[5] 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 theDuke of Urbino.
Media related toSaint George with the Dragon (Louvre) by Raffaello Sanzio at Wikimedia Commons