Saint George and the Dragon (Book Image (crop from .18v))
Master of Guillebert de Mets
The J. Paul Getty Museum
Los Angeles, United States
The illuminator playfully linked border and miniature in this image accompanying a prayer to Saint George. In the miniature, the mounted knight, Saint George, rescues a princess from a dragon. In the border, her parents, a pagan king and queen, watch from a castle tower on the sidelines, almost crowded off the page by enormous stalks of foliage. According to legend, the people of the kingdom converted to Christianity following their deliverance from the dragon's attacks.
The dramatic and exuberant acanthus border provides a fitting counterpart to the elegant miniature featuring the equestrian hero and the princess. The brightly colored sinuous foliage echoes Saint George's flowing, elaborately scalloped cape, further uniting the framed miniature and the border.
- Title: Saint George and the Dragon (Book Image (crop from .18v))
- Creator: Master of Guillebert de Mets
- Date Created: about 1450–1455
- Location Created: Ghent (probably), Belgium
- Physical Dimensions: Leaf: 19.4 × 14 cm (7 5/8 × 5 1/2 in.)
- Type: Folio
- External Link: Find out more about this object on the Museum website.
- Medium: Tempera colors, gold leaf, and ink on parchment
- Terms of Use: Open Content
- Number: 84.ML.67.18v
- Culture: Flemish
- Credit Line: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Ms. 2, fol. 18v
- Creator Display Name: Master of Guillebert de Mets (Flemish, active about 1410 - 1450)
- Classification: Manuscripts (Documents)
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