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Overview

Raphael was born in Urbino, a central Italian duchy noted for its elegant gentility and Renaissance scholarship. He moved to Florence toward the end of 1504.

Saint George and the Dragon, one of two versions of the theme by the artist, belonged to a series of miniature panels that Raphael painted in Florence for the celebrated court of Urbino. A Roman soldier of Christian faith, Saint George saved the daughter of a pagan king by subduing a dragon with his lance; the princess then led the dragon to the city, where the saint killed it with his sword, prompting the king and his subjects to convert to Christianity.

One unusual feature of the painting is the saint's blue garter on his armor–covered leg. Its inscription, HONI, begins the phrase Honi soit qui mal y pense (Disgraced be he who thinks ill of it), the motto of the chivalric Order of the Garter, of which George is the patron saint. Duke Guidobaldo da Montefeltro of Urbino was made a knight of the prestigious order in 1504 by King Henry VII of England. Scholarship has shown that the panel was made for the king's emissary, Gilbert Talbot, and not as a gift directly for the king, as was previously thought.

Inscription

across center on breast strap of horse: RAPHELLO / .V. (Raphael of Urbino); on garter: HONI (beginning of themotto of the Order of the Garter, Honi soit qu *

Provenance

William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke [1580-1630], Wilton House, Wiltshire, by 1627; possibly his brother, Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke [1584-1649/1650], Wilton House; given either by the 3rd Earl or the 4th Earl between 1628 and 1639 to Charles I, King of England [1600-1649];[1] (Charles I [Commonwealth] sale, Somerset House, London, 19 December 1651); purchased by Edward Bass.[2] Charles d'Escoubleau, Marquis de Sourdis [d. 1666], possibly acquired from Bass.[3] Laurent Le Tessier de Montarsy, by 1729; Pierre Crozat [1665-1740], Paris, by 1729;[4] by inheritance to his nephews, first to Louis-François Crozat, marquis du Châtel [1691-1750], Paris, and then [on Louis-François' death without a male heir] to Louis-Antoine Crozat, baron de Thiers [1700-1770];[5] the latter's heirs; purchased 1772, through Denis Diderot [1713-1784] as an intermediary, by Catherine II, empress of Russia [1729-1796], for the Imperial Hermitage Gallery, Saint Petersburg;[6] purchased March 1931 through (Matthiesen Gallery, Berlin; P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London; and M. Knoedler & Co., New York) by Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded 30 March 1932 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[7] gift 1937 to NGA.

Exhibition History

1983
Raphael and America, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1983, no. 77, repro.

Bibliography

1773
Imperial Hermitage Museum [probably Ernst von Münnich, ed.] "Catalogue raisonné des tableaux qui se trouvent dans les Galeries, Sallons et Cabinets du Palais Impérial de S. Pétersbourg, commencé en 1773 et continué jusqu’en 1785.” 3 vols. Manuscript, Fund 1, Opis’ VI-A, delo 85, Hermitage Archives, Saint Petersburg,1773-1783 (vols. 1-2), 1785 (vol. 3).
1774
Imperial Hermitage Museum [probably Ernst von Münnich, ed.]. Catalogue des tableaux qui se trouvent dans les Cabinets du Palais Impérial à Saint-Pétersbourg. Based on the 1773 manuscript catalogue. Saint Petersburg, 1774: no. 545.
1909
Wrangell, Baron Nicolas. Les Chefs-d'Oeuvre de la Galérie de Tableaux de l'Hermitage Impérial à St-Pétersbourg. London, 1909: repro. 9.
1937
Jewell, Edward Alden. "Mellon's Gift." Magazine of Art 30, no. 2 (February 1937): 82.
1941
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 163, no. 26.
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 239, repro. 173.
1944
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 46, color repro.
1946
Favorite Paintings from the National Gallery of Art Washington, D.C.. New York, 1946: 25-28, color repro.
1949
Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 27, repro.
1951
Einstein, Lewis. Looking at Italian Pictures in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1951: 58-60, repro.
1956
Volpe, Carlo. "Due questioni raffaellesche. Paragone 7 no. 75 (March 1956): 12.
1956
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1956: 20, repro.
1957
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 28.
1960
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Later Italian Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1960 (Booklet Number Six in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 14, color repro.
1960
The National Gallery of Art and Its Collections. Foreword by Perry B. Cott and notes by Otto Stelzer. National Gallery of Art, Washington (undated, 1960s): 24-25, color repro. 13.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 130, repro.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 107.
1966
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:124, color repro.
1966
Michener, James A. “Four Miracles—And A Masterpiece.” Reader’s Digest 89 (November 1966): 164, repro.
1966
Walton, William. "Parnassus on Potomac." Art News 65 (March 1966): 38.
1968
Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Central Italian and North Italian Schools. 3 vols. London, 1968: 1:355.
1968
Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 12, 41-42, color repro.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 95, repro.
1973
Finley, David Edward. A Standard of Excellence: Andrew W. Mellon Founds the National Gallery of Art at Washington. Washington, 1973: 22, 25 repro.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 280, repro.
1978
King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 27, pl. 6.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. Washington, 1979: 1:391-394; 2:pl. 279.
1979
Watson, Ross. The National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1979: 35, pl. 18.
1982
Alsop, Joseph. The Rare Art Traditions: The History of Art Collecting and Its Linked Phenomena Wherever These Have Appeared. (Bollingen series 35, no. 27) New York, 1982: 452, 459, fig. 94.
1983
Ettlinger, Helen S. "The Question of St George's Garter." The Burlington Magazine 125 no. 958 (January 1983): 25-29.
1983
Shearman, John. "A Drawing for Raphael's 'St. George'." The Burlington Magazine 125 no. 958 (January 1983): 15-25, fig. 23, 24.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 170, no. 190, color repr.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 326, repro.
1986
Brown, David Alan. "Saint George in Raphael's Washington Painting." Studies in the History of Art 17 (1986):37-44, repro.
1986
Christensen, Carol. "Examination and Treatment of Paintings by Raphael at the National Gallery of Art." Studies in the History of Art 17 (1986):47-50, repro.
1986
Mulazzani, Germano. "Raphael and Venice: Giovanni Bellini, Dürer, and Bosch." Studies in the History of Art 17 (1986): 149-153, repro.
1991
Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 91, 96, color repro.
1991
Morandotti, Alessandro. "La fortuna collezionistica della pittura gotica e rinascimentale fra Ottocento e Novecento." In Mauro Natale, ed. Pittura italiana dal '300 al '500. Milan, 1991: 39.
1992
National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1992: 29, repro.
1996
Kruse, Christiane. "Eine gemalte Kunsttheorie im Johannes-Veronika-Diptychon von Hans Memling." Pantheon 54 (1996): 39-40, fig. 4.
1996
Landi, Ann. "150 Years of Helping Shape a Nation's Taste." New York Times (December 1, 1996): 46.
1997
Neverov, Oleg, and Mikhail Piotrovsky. The Hermitage: Essays on the History of the Collection, Saint Petersburg, 1997, p. 163, repro.
1998
Apostolos-Cappadona, Diane. "Beheading/Decapitation (Acheiropaiec Heads)." In Helene E. Roberts, ed. Encyclopedia of Comparative Iconography: Themes Depicted in Works of Art. 2 vols. Chicago, 1998: 1:122.
1998
Buck, Stephanie and Peter Hohenstatt. Raffeallo Santi, known as Raphael, 1483-1520. Konemann, 1998: repro. no. 25.
1999
Renaissance Culture and the Everyday. ed.Patricia Fumerton and Simon Hunt, Philadelphia, 1999: 47-50, repro.
2002
Belozerskaya, Marina. Rethinking the Renaissance: Burgundian Arts Across Europe. Cambridge, 2002: 269-270, fig. 87.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 78-79, no. 55, color repro.
2004
Nuttall, Paula. From Flanders to Florence: The Impact of Netherlandish Painting, 1400-1500. New Haven and London, 2004: 247-248, fig. 279.
2006
Hartt, Frederick, and David G. Wilkins. History of Italian Renaissance Art: Painting, Sculpture, Architecture. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, 2006: 479, 481, color fig. 16.42.
2009
Odom, Anne, and Wendy R. Salmond, eds. Treasures into Tractors: The Selling of Russia's Cultural Heritage, 1918-1938. Washington, 2009: 91, 131, 135 n. 62.
2011
Burioni, Matteo. “Die Immunität Raffaels. Lehre, Nachahmung und Wettstreit inder Begegnung mit Pietro Perugino.” In Andreas Schumacher, ed. Perugino. Raffaels Meister. Exh. cat. Alte Pinakothek, Munich, 2011: 140-143, fig. 75.
2011
Fiedler, Susanne, and Torsten Knuth. "Vexierbilder einer Biographie: Dr. Heinz Mansfeld (1899-1959)." Mecklenburgische Jahrbücher 126 (2011):308.
2011
Kustodieva, Tat'jana. Museo Statale Ermitage: La pittura italiana dal XIII al XVI secolo. Milan, 2011:
2013
Haskell, Francis. The King's Pictures: The Formation and Dispersal of the Collections of Charles I and His Courtiers. Edited by Karen Serres. New Haven and London, 2013: 47, fig. 57, 181 n. 16, 227.
2013
Hodge, Susie. Raphael: His Life and Works in 500 Images. Wigston, Leicestershire, 2013: 137, color figs.
2013
Semyonova, Natalya, and Nicolas V. Iljine, eds. Selling Russia's Treasures: The Soviet Trade in Nationalized Art 1917-1938. New York and London, 2013: 138, 139, 164, repro.
2014
Lane, Barbara G. “Hans Memling: vita e opere.” In Memling: Rinasimento fiammingo, ed. Till-Holger Borchert. Exh. cat. Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome, 2014-2015. Milan, 2014: 44-45, 51, nt. 33 and nt. 37, color fig. 6. (The NGA painting was not in the exhibition.)
2016
Jaques, Susan. The Empress of Art: Catherine the Great and the Transformation of Russia. New York, 2016: 397, 398, color fig.
2016
Warner-Johnson, Tim, and Jeremy Howard, eds. Colnaghi: Past, Present and Future: An Anthology. London, 2016: 64-65, color plate 9.
2016
Wecker, Menachem. "Famed Arts Patron Catherine the Great had Many Lovers, But She was a Prude." Washington Post 139, no. 120 (April 3, 2016): E2, repro.
2023
Kondziella, Martha. Sodoma: Die Tafel- und Leinwanbilder. Merzhausen, 2023: 260, fig. 237.

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