Saint George on Horseback

Saint George – the patron saint of England - was a Roman Soldier and one of the early Christian martyrs, already venerated in the 5th century. His identification as dragon slayer was first established in the 13th century, when Jacopo da Voragine recounted his heroic feat in the Legenda Aurea: defeating the dragon, he freed the city of Silene in Libya and saved the king’s daughter offered in sacrifice to the beast. This tale of heroism made the warrior Saint a favourite character of medieval chivalric romance and inspired many Renaissance artists, from Paolo Uccello to Albrecht Dürer, who depicted him in several prints. In this exquisite little engraving, the Saint is shown after the fight, in a solemn and celebratory moment of repose, with the corpse of the beast lying below his horse on the ground. This figure of Saint George, a Christian hero on horseback, is a precursor to one of Dürer’s most famous prints: Knight, Death and the Devil (see lot 23).