Triumph of Saint George, detail showing St. George and the defeated dragon
Dublin Core
Title
Triumph of Saint George, detail showing St. George and the defeated dragon
Description
Depicted here is the “Triumph of Saint George”, a painting created by Vittore Carpaccio. In order to understand the context of the painting, one must first understand the historical story. St. George, a traveling Christian Roman soldier, stumbles upon a city in which a dragon spreads chaos and fear. In order to keep the dragon satisfied, the villagers must offer up a woman. When the daughter of the king of the city is selected for sacrifice by the dragon, St. George offers to kill the dragon. Eventually, he succeeds, thus saving the princess in the face of certain death.
Going back to the painting, St. George is depicted as a strong, young man holding the body of the dragon. While this is the main event occurring, St. George and the dragon are found in the bottom left corner of the painting. The viewer’s eyes are drawn to that corner through various lines throughout the composition. For one, the landscape in the background has diagonal lines, leading to the architectural structure. Following the lines created by the flagpoles, as well as the patterns of the structure, the eyes are led to St. George. From the right side of the image, there is a natural diagonal line that follows the bodies and the heads of the horses, leading to St. George and the dragon. Although the dragon has been killed, there is a sense of animation/movement about the scene: the heads of the horses in conjunction with the flags establish fluidity within the image.
As for direct connection to Venice, one is not clearly established. There is no direct reference to any structures in Venice, nor any reference to specific figures. However, a connection to Venice can be deduced based on history and style. Although the commissioner for the painting is not known, the project was most likely initiated by the donation of a relic of St. George by Paolo Valaresso near the time of St. George’s festival. This history could provide a secondary explanation for the presence of the band behind the saint in the painting. Renaissance style, or rather aspects of it, are also seen. Rather than having the main subject in the center of the painting, Carpaccio places the saint in the corner, thus playing with the space of the painting--something that is characteristic of renaissance art.
Going back to the painting, St. George is depicted as a strong, young man holding the body of the dragon. While this is the main event occurring, St. George and the dragon are found in the bottom left corner of the painting. The viewer’s eyes are drawn to that corner through various lines throughout the composition. For one, the landscape in the background has diagonal lines, leading to the architectural structure. Following the lines created by the flagpoles, as well as the patterns of the structure, the eyes are led to St. George. From the right side of the image, there is a natural diagonal line that follows the bodies and the heads of the horses, leading to St. George and the dragon. Although the dragon has been killed, there is a sense of animation/movement about the scene: the heads of the horses in conjunction with the flags establish fluidity within the image.
As for direct connection to Venice, one is not clearly established. There is no direct reference to any structures in Venice, nor any reference to specific figures. However, a connection to Venice can be deduced based on history and style. Although the commissioner for the painting is not known, the project was most likely initiated by the donation of a relic of St. George by Paolo Valaresso near the time of St. George’s festival. This history could provide a secondary explanation for the presence of the band behind the saint in the painting. Renaissance style, or rather aspects of it, are also seen. Rather than having the main subject in the center of the painting, Carpaccio places the saint in the corner, thus playing with the space of the painting--something that is characteristic of renaissance art.
Creator
Vittore Carpaccio
Source
Brooke, Caroline. "Vittore Carpaccio's Method of Composition in His Drawings for the Scuola Di S. Giorgio Teleri." Master Drawings 42, no. 4 (2004): 303-14. Accessed September 9, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1554668.
Cohen, Simona. Animals as Disguised Symbols in Renaissance Art, BRILL, 2008. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://search.proquest.com/legacydocview/EBC/467997?accountid=10598.
RUSSELL, FRANCIS. RSA Journal 136, no. 5388 (1988): 920-21. Accessed September 9, 2020. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41374766.
Vittore Carpaccio. c. 1504-1507. Triumph of Saint George, detail showing St. George and the defeated dragon. paintings. Place: Scuola di S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni, Venice, Italy. https://library.artstor.org/asset/SCALA_ARCHIVES_1039614912.
Publisher
Image and original data provided by SCALA, Florence/ART RESOURCE, N.Y.
Date
c. 1504 - 1507
Contributor
Muhib Methani
Rights
(c) 2006, SCALA, Florence/ART RESOURCE, N.Y.
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Please note that if this image is under copyright, you may need to contact one or more copyright owners for any use that is not permitted under the ARTstor Terms and Conditions of Use or not otherwise permitted by law. While ARTstor tries to update contact information, it cannot guarantee that such information is always accurate. Determining whether those permissions are necessary, and obtaining such permissions, is your sole responsibility.
Format
Oil on canvas
141 x 360 cm
141 x 360 cm
Type
Paintings
Coverage
Scuola di S. Giorgio degli Schiavoni, Venice, Italy
Collection
Citation
Vittore Carpaccio, “Triumph of Saint George, detail showing St. George and the defeated dragon,” ARTHIST 89S - Visual Culture of Venice - Fall 2020, accessed October 22, 2026, https://venice.dahvc.org/fall-2020/items/show/18.