Saint George and the Dragon
Saint George and the Dragon — Uccello, c.1470, National Gallery
Paolo Uccello, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Paolo Uccello's Saint George and the Dragon in the National Gallery London is one of the most charming and formally inventive narrative paintings of the 15th century — a small canvas (approximately 57 by 74 cm) showing St George on horseback, lance couched, driving the dragon back toward the princess (who holds the dragon on a leash). The composition is divided between two registers: the turbulent storm with lightning on the right, the calm area around the princess and the dragon on the left.
The dragon is depicted with a green, almost decorative quality that is characteristic of Uccello's approach to the natural world: it is a heraldic creature from a romance rather than a realistic animal. The painting exemplifies Uccello's interest in visual pattern and formal construction — the rotating motion of the horse, the foreshortened lance, the concentric cave opening.
Paolo Uccello (c.1397-1475) was one of the most eccentric and fascinating artists of the Florentine Quattrocento — a painter so obsessed with perspective and foreshortening that Giorgio Vasari's biography of him is largely an account of his perspectival experiments. His three great battle panels (the Battle of San Romano, now divided between the Uffizi, the National Gallery London, and the Louvre) are the most complete expression of his perspectival imagination; the Saint George and the Dragon is smaller but equally characteristic. Vasari tells an anecdote that Uccello's wife would call him to bed from his studies in perspective, and he would reply 'What a sweet thing this perspective is!'
The princess's leash controlling the dragon is a detail from the Golden Legend narrative of St George: she has subdued the dragon with her girdle (belt) and is leading it docilely when George arrives. The dragon's cave in the background creates a spiraling, concentric architectural space — a perspectival experiment within the narrative. The storm on the right, with its dark clouds and lightning, contrasts with the calm in which the princess stands.
When standing before this work, look carefully: Saint George and the Dragon — Uccello, c.1470, National Gallery. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: St George on horseback — perspectival motion. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: Princess with the leash — the subdued dragon. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
When standing before this work, look carefully: The dragon's cave — concentric perspectival space. Give it time — what seems decorative often carries the central meaning.
National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, London WC2N 5DN. Free admission. Open daily 10:00-18:00 (21:00 Fridays).