Paris Bordon
St. George Killing the Dragon

1525
Oil on wood panel
Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome

St. George is pictured as a noble knight in full 16th-century armor. Despite the broken lance in the dragon's throat, he is pictured with a gleaming, finely crafted sword. His authority is signaled by his calm demeanor and his easy grip on the reins of the excited horse, a detail repeated in later years by hundreds of equestrian statues of kings and generals.

Perched on a rock like Andromeda, In Greek mythology, a princess chained to a rock as an offering to a sea monster. She was rescued by Perseus. the princess turns back to observe the dragon's demise. The bones of its recent victims are scattered in the foreground, along with the body of a recently decapitated youth.

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Photographed at the Pinacoteca Vaticana by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.