Dublin Core
Title
‘The Fight: St George Kills the Dragon VI’ by Edward Burne-Jones
Subject
Aesthetic Pre-Raphaelitism, armor, armour, art, artwork, chivalric tradition, chivalry, damsel, dragon, gallantry, George, knight, legend, Myles Birket Foster, myth, New South Wales, NSW, Pre-Raphaelite, Princess Sabra, St George, sword, The Hill, Witley.
Description
This oil on canvas painting by well-known nineteenth-century artist Edward Burne-Jones was gifted to the Art Gallery of New South Wales by Arthur Moon. It is one of seven paintings from a ‘St George and the Dragon’ narrative cycle that Burne-Jones was commissioned to produce in 1864 for the dining room of Myles Birket Foster’s house, The Hill, in Witley, Surrey. Completed in 1866, this is the sixth painting in the series. It depicts an armoured St George slaying a reptilian looking dragon, while a female figure wearing a flowing white gown and a wreath of flowers - Princess Sabra from the legend - clasps her hands and watches tentatively from the sidelines. The deadly threat posed by the dragon, and by extension the valour of the knight in quashing it, is evident from the skull and broken lance lying in the foreground of the painting. Although the legend of St George slaying the dragon is Eastern in origin, it is thought to have been taken back to England by medieval crusaders, where it was incorporated into the chivalric tradition. As the patron saint of England, a champion of Christianity, and an exemplar of chivalric masculinity, St George was a popular subject for Pre-Raphaelite artists such as Burne-Jones, and for the Victorian medieval revival more generally.
Creator
Edward Burne-Jones
Source
The Art Gallery of New South Wales
Date
1866
Rights
The Art Gallery of New South Wales
Format
Oil on Canvas, 105.4cm x 130.8cm