National Gallery of Art NGAkids Rogier van der Weyden St. George and the Dragon 5

Rogier van der Weyden, Saint George and the Dragon, 1432-1435, National Gallery of Art, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

Rogier van der Weyden painted the legendary event as though it had taken place in his own country and in his own time. The landscape in the background is the Belgian countryside as it looked in the early fifteenth century. We see a walled city that is surrounded by water, and a castle above it perched atop a fantastic mountain. Painters often changed settings to help their audience relate to a story. The great Renaissance artist Raphael portrayed his Saint George in an Italian landscape. If you were creating a scene like this today, what famous building or monument would you use as a backdrop for your picture?