Saint George

Dosso Dossi, about 1513–1515

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Artist: Dosso Dossi (Italian, (Ferrarese), about, 1480–1542)
Medium: Oil on panel
Size: 70.2 × 61 cm (27 5/8 × 24 in.)
Culture: Italian
Museum: J. Paul Getty Museum
Rights: CC0 — no rights reserved

Dosso Dossi depicts Saint George in the aftermath of his legendary battle with the dragon, wielding the creature's bloodied head and the lance broken during the fight. The victorious saint emerges from the darkness as a rainbow breaks through the storm clouds above. Dossi poignantly expressed his subject's recent emotional turmoil in the saint's penetrating expression. He appears weary yet resolute in his triumph, perhaps relieved that his strenuous battle has come to an end.

A third-century Christian warrior, Saint George was the patron saint of Ferrara, the artist’s native city. The early provenance of this painting is unknown, but the subject may indicate that it was commissioned by a local Ferrarese collector. The wooden staff grasped in the saint’s left hand is inscribed with symbols of Saint George's Christian faith—crosses rendered in vivid strokes of red paint as though the blood of his vanquished foe drips down its shaft. The color of the crosses echoes the blood pooling in the beast's mouth.

Text: J. Paul Getty Trust, CC BY 4.0.