Saint George_ after 1540

0:00

drawing, paper, ink

drawing

pencil sketch

landscape

charcoal drawing

figuration

paper

11_renaissance

ink

genre-painting

Dimensions: 96.9 x 78.4 x 1.0 cm

Dosso Dossi, an artist from Ferrara, Italy, made this drawing of Saint George in ink wash sometime around 1520. We see not the triumphant dragon slayer of legend, but a humble shepherd minding his flock in a serene, idealized landscape. This was a time when the Church was one of the most important patrons for the arts and its power and wealth allowed artists to explore different ways to present biblical stories to the public. Dossi's portrayal of Saint George turns the familiar heroic narrative on its head and invites questions about power, virtue, and the value of a simple life. What are the social conditions that allow this image to be made? What are the politics of imagery? Art historians use many tools, from archival research to the study of patronage networks, to illuminate these questions and better understand the cultural work that images like this perform.

Comments

stadelmuseum over 1 year ago

⋮

Once thought to be the work of Giorgione, this life-size, bust-length depiction of a knight is a copy after a painting by Dosso Dossi. The fact that the Städel picture is painted on a panel of Baltic oak suggests that it was made by a Dutch copyist active in the first half of the 16th century. The original did enjoy great popularity in the north and was numerously copied. Some versions remain faithful to Dossi’s work and show a saint, possibly Saint George, in gleaming steel armour set against a dark background. Other versions invest the saint with the features of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and the Order of the Golden Fleece. Although the Städel picture was executed in close imitation of Dossi’s model, the semi-circular upper edge sets it apart from the other surviving versions.