Saint George and the Dragon
Rogier van der Weydenc. 1432/1435
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Washington, DC, United States
The special mixture of reality, fantasy, and virtuosity that is particular to early Netherlandish painting is nowhere more apparent than in this exquisite panel. In an episode from the popular legend, Saint George in black Gothic armor pins the dragon to the ground with his lance; at the left kneels the fashionably attired Princess Cleodolinda who was to have been sacrificed to the dragon. George was a Roman soldier living in third-century Cappadocia, but the setting has here been transformed from ancient Asia Minor to the contemporary Belgian countryside.
Passing through a series of overlapping hills, we come upon a walled city surrounded by water and dominated by a castle perched atop a fantastic mountain. This scene is almost certainly imaginary and yet is rendered with the greatest clarity and realism. The attention to specific detail has led to the suggestion that the artist made use of a magnifying glass.
The artist's interest in the depiction of light -- reflecting on George's armor and the dragon's scales -- and atmospheric effects shows the influence of Jan van Eyck. The painting is also stylistically related to manuscript illumination that would suggest this is an early work. The panel may originally have been part of a larger ensemble, perhaps a diptych, and was most likely used for private devotion.
More information on this painting can be found in the Gallery publication _Early Netherlandish Painting_, which is available as a free PDF <u>https://www.nga.gov/content/dam/ngaweb/research/publications/pdfs/early-netherlandish-painting.pdf</u>
- Title: Saint George and the Dragon
- Creator: Rogier van der Weyden
- Date Created: c. 1432/1435
- Physical Dimensions: painted surface: 14.3 x 10.5 cm (5 5/8 x 4 1/8 in.) overall (panel): 15.2 x 11.8 cm (6 x 4 5/8 in.) framed: 34.6 x 30.4 x 5.3 cm (13 5/8 x 11 15/16 x 2 1/16 in.)
- Provenance: Possibly Grudna-Grudzinski family, Poznan.[1] General de Plaoutine, Saint Petersburg by 1902, Nice by 1917, and London by 1920;[2] purchased 1923 by Lady Evelyn Mason [d. 1944], cousin of General de Plaoutine's wife, London;[3] by inheritence to her daughter, Mrs. L.A. Impey, Chilland, Hitchin Abbas, near Winchester; (sale, Sotheby's, London, 16 March 1966, no. 1); purchased by NGA. [1] A seal at the lower right corner of the panel reverse bears a coat of arms that has been identified with a high degree of probability as that of the Polish family Grudna-Grudzinski. Mention of the painting in their collection has not been found. It should be noted, however, that Joanna of the house of Grudna-Grudzinski married the Russian Grand Duke Constantine on 24 May 1820. She received the title of Princess von Lowicz (Jnowraczlaw) from Czar Alexander. If the painting did belong to the Grudna-Grudzinski family, it is possible that it came to Saint Petersburg through the person of Joanna. Perhaps it was given to her as a wedding present. [2] Claude Philips, "Impressions of the Bruges Exhibitions," _The Fortnightly Review_, N.S. 72 (1902), 598, is the earliest mention of the painting being in the Plaoutine collection, Saint Petersburg. Plaoutine still owned the picture in 1920; see _Pictures and English Furniture of the Chippendale Period_ [exh. cat. Burlington Fine Arts Club] (London, 1920), no. 30. The General himself did not live in London, however. Mrs. L.A. Impey, in a letter of 20 August 1984 to John Oliver Hand in the NGA curatorial files, states that Plaoutine emigrated to Nice in 1917 and in 1920 sent the painting to his wife's cousin, Lady Evelyn Mason (Mrs. Impey's mother), in England. He asked her to try to sell the painting, but, the English galleries being short of resources at the time, Lady Evelyn finally bought it herself in 1923. [3] Mrs. L.A. Impey, letter to John Oliver Hand of 20 August 1984, in NGA curatorial files.
- Rights: CC0
- Medium: oil on panel
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