CARPACCIO, Vittore
(b. 1472, Venezia, d. 1526, Capodistria)
St George and the Dragon
1502
Oil on canvas, 141 x 360 cm
Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, Venice
Around 1501 02 Carpaccio received a commission to create a group of canvases for the headquarters of a minor confraternity, the Scuola degli Schiavoni. This brotherhood was given this name because its members were for the most part Dalmatians, either resident in Venice or sailors and artisans temporarily working there. Built in 1431, the building still houses Carpaccio's paintings illustrating seven episodes from the life of the confraternity patron saints, Jerome, George and Triphun. The seven paintings are: Vision of St Augustine, St Jerome and the Lion, Funeral of St Jerome, St George and the Dragon, Triumph of St George, Baptism of the Selenites, Daughter of Emperor Gordian Exorcised by St Triphun.
St George and the Dragon is set in a wide open space, unlike anything Carpaccio had ever done before. The whole of the foreground is taken up by St George on his horse and the monstrous animal, wounded and dying, arranged along a diagonal line that gets from the praying princess to the tip of the dragon's curved tail. On the ground, baked by the sun, we can see the remains of the dragon's victims and vipers, lizards, toads and vultures, each realistically portrayed. To the left, from the terraces of the fairytale palaces, the inhabitants of Selene watch the outcome of this extraordinary tournament.
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