Getty Museum
Saint George
Creator
Dosso Dossi (Giovanni di Niccolò de Lutero)Italian Artist · 1490–1542
All works by this person →Dosso Dossi's father was a land agent for the Este court in Ferrara. By the age of twenty-five, Dosso had spent time in Mantua and probably Venice and had begun to paint cabinet pictures with religious and secular themes. By 1517 Dosso was also working for the dukes of Ferrara. He spent most of his career there, often collaborating with his brother Battista. The Este family valued the arts and fos
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- about 1513–1515
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Culture
- Italian
- Department
- Paintings
- Institution
- Getty Museum
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.
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