Saint George and the Dragon

This tall painting shows Saint George, a knight in armor, facing a dragon. In the legend, he slays the beast and rescues a princess who was about to be sacrificed to it. That is the episode artists most often chose to paint. The panel stands about one and a half meters high and is painted in tempera, a type of paint, on wood. Bernat Martorell, a painter from Catalonia, made it in 1434 to 1435. Start with the saint and the dragon, then let your eyes wander out to the ground and the town.

Look at the ground in the foreground. Animal and human bones are scattered across the sandy earth, the leftovers of the dragon's meals. Then find the opening of the dragon's cave, where small lizards crawl about. They may be baby dragons. Next, look to the town and its walls. The princess's parents watch from the battlements, along with crowds of onlookers pressed together to see the fight. Finally, study the halo, the armor and the dragon's scaly body. Their surfaces are slightly raised, and the sandy ground has a gritty texture.

Martorell was a Catalan painter, active from 1427 until his death in 1452. This picture was the central panel of an altarpiece, the painted decoration set above an altar, devoted to Saint George. Four smaller panels originally surrounded it, telling the story of the saint's martyrdom. They are now in the Louvre in Paris. To make the raised areas, Martorell built up gesso, a chalky paste, beneath the paint. He used it on the halo, the armor and the dragon's scales. The altarpiece was probably painted for the chapel of the Barcelona palace of the government of Catalonia.

In the Middle Ages, Saint George was a popular figure, admired as a model of Christian knighthood. He also had special meaning in Catalonia, because he is the patron saint of that region. That makes the likely home of this altarpiece, a chapel in the palace of Catalonia's government, especially fitting. The picture honors a hero who defeats a monster and saves an innocent life. Look once more at the halo and the armor, where the raised decoration makes the saint seem to stand out from the panel.