1534
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
St. George and the Dragon is a 1534 by Francesco Salviati, a Renaissance work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see a knight in armor fighting a dragon. The knight, Saint George, wears ancient-style armor, which was typically used to show virtue in elite male subjects. This armor style is based on Roman sculpture, which was often referenced in Renaissance art to convey strength and power. Check out the work of artist Francesco Salviati to see more examples of Renaissance art.
According to a legend based on Greek myth, as Saint George passed through Libya, he rescued a king’s daughter who had been left as a sacrifice to placate a vicious dragon. In gratitude for being delivered from the monster’s tyranny, the king’s subjects converted to Christianity. Here George wears armor in the ancient style based on Roman sculpture. Classical armor in Renaissance art was reserved for elite male subjects as a sign of their virtue. As a military saint, George’s attire conveys his antiquity as an early Christian hero (died about AD 303), conferring on him a sense of Roman…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Francesco Salviati or Francesco de' Rossi (1510 – 11 November 1563) was an Italian Mannerist painter who lived and worked in Florence, with periods in Bologna and Venice, ending with a long period in Rome, where he died.
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