Saint George and the Dragon

1370/1420

Carved from cream-white alabaster stone, this free-standing sculpture shows an armored knight sitting atop a horse, which straddles a curled up, snarling dragon in front of a kneeling person. In this photograph, the bodies of the horse and man face our left in profile. The dragon is pinned on its back with its head under the horse’s mouth. There are some losses: the head of the kneeling person is gone, and parts of both of the knight’s arms are missing. The lance the knight holds and the sword at his hip are also fragmented. The knight leans forward with his right arm, farther from us, raised and a shield with a red cross is affixed to the opposite upper arm. His pointed, rounded helmet is lined with chain mail around the chin and neck. Simple bands in gold, red, and black decorate the knight’s armor as well as the saddle and bridle on the horse. The horse looks down at the dragon underfoot, his chin pulled sharply back. The dragon is painted burgundy red, and has a large head with a gaping mouth filled with sharp teeth and fangs. Claws tear at the horse’s legs as the knight drives the lance into the dragon’s body. The creature’s black wings are pinned under its body, and its dotted tail curls up between the hind legs. To our left, near the dragon and horse's heads, the kneeling person wears a gold-edged dress under a voluminous robe. One hand holds the black and gold striped band looping around the dragon’s neck, and the other is raised to that person’s chest. The stone under the people and animals is roughly carved, suggesting a rocky ground.

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Freestanding and worked entirely in the round, this statuette is a masterpiece from the thriving carved-alabaster industry in medieval England. Due to its fragility and to attacks during later iconoclasm, much of this type of English sculpture was eventually destroyed. This sculpted group may owe its survival to having been exported to a convent in Spain, where a great demand existed for such alabaster. The patron saint of England is shown battling the dragon, who claws and bites at the lance plunged into its belly. The kneeling princess holds the dragon by her long belt, as if on a leash. Extensive polychromy and gilding add detail and texture to the smooth stone.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 38

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    painted and gilded alabaster

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 81.5 x 60.5 x 20.5 cm (32 1/16 x 23 13/16 x 8 1/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1953.2.2

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Church of the Dominican convent of San Juan, Quejana (province of Alava, Spain), before c. 1730; tomb chapel of the Ayala family (tower chapel of La Virgen del Cabello), convent of San Juan, Quejana, c. 1730-after 1880.[1] Benoit Oppenheim [1842-1931], Berlin, before 1911-1920 or after;[2] Lionel Harris [d. 1943], Spanish Art Gallery, London, in or before 1925.[3] (Goldschmidt Galleries, New York);[4] sold 1925 to Otto H. Kahn [1867-1934], New York;[5] Mrs. Otto H. Kahn [d. 1949], New York;[6] Mogmar Art Foundation, New York, by 1940;[7] (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris), by 1942;[8] purchased 1944 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[9] gift 1953 to NGA.
[1] See Micaela J. Portilla, Quejana, solar de los Ayala, Vitoria, 1983: 33, 47, 49-51, for the position in the church and transfer to the chapel. The Saint George, then in the tomb chapel, was described by Ricardo Becerro de Bengoa, "Descripciones de Alava," c. 1880: "En las paredes immediatas se ven los sepolcros murales, con estatuas yacentes, de Hernán Pérez, hijo de Pero López, y de su mujer D.a Eloisa de Cevallos, cuyas pobres esculturas no alcanzan, ni con mucho, a la importancia de las sus padres...En el lucillo de D.a Eloisa han arrinconado una bella imagen de alabastro de San Jorge, de curioso mérito, por su antigüedad y detalles" (partially published as "Panteon del Canciller Don Pero López de Ayala en Quejana (Alava)," BSEE 24 [1916]: 166; also published in Revista Ateneo [Vitoria], [1918]: 7). That the present sculpture is the one in question is confirmed in Benoit Oppenheim, Originalwerke in Holz, Stein, Elfenbein usw. aus der Sammlung Benoit Oppenheim, Berlin, Supplementary volume, Leipzig, 1911: no. 136, pl. 79, with the statement that the statue once stood "in a church in Quejana, Bilbao Province, Spain, in which are tombs of the Alba."
[2] Oppenheim 1911, no. 136. Eugen Lüthgen, Die Abendländische Kunst des 15. Jahrhunderts, Bonn, 1920: 51-52, published the work as still in the Oppenheim collection. Micaela Portilla, undated letter to Pamela Patton, received 13 January 1987, in the NGA curatorial files, noted that various works of art from the region of Quejana were sold between 1905 and 1907. The altarpiece now in Chicago was not sold until 1913.
[3] Philip Nelson, "Some Undescribed English Alabaster Carvings," Archeological Journal 83 (1926): 44, mentions the relief as "illustrated by courtesy of the late owner, Mr. Lionel Harris."
[4] A photo caption in ArtNews 24 (26 December 1925): 8 describes the work as recently sold to Otto Kahn.
[5] Alfred M. Frankfurter, "A Tribute to Otto H. Kahn as Art Collector," Art News 32 (7 April 1934): 10.
[6] Sir Eric Maclagan of the Victoria and Albert Museum to Mrs. Kahn, 18 May 1938, transcribed in Duveen brochure, in NGA curatorial files.
[7] The Mogmar Art Foundation, established by the Kahn estate, was listed as the lender in Arts of the Middle Ages 1000-1400; a Loan Exhibition, exh. cat., Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, 1940: no. 192, pl. LVIII.
[8] George Swarenski to Edward Fowles of Duveen Brothers, letter of 9 May 1942, copy in NGA curatorial files.
[9] Kress 1945, 174.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1940

  • Arts of the Middle Ages 1000-1400: a Loan Exhibition, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1940, no. 192, pl. LVIII, as Franco-Spanish, c. 1400.

1945

  • On loan to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1945-1953.

1946

  • Recent Additions to the Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1946, no. A-151.

2003

  • Gothic: Art for England 1400-1547, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2003-2004, no. 84, repro.

Bibliography

1880

  • Becerro de Bengoa, Ricardo. "Descripciones de Alava." c. 1880, Partially published as "Panteon del Canciller Con Pero López de Ayala en Quenjana (Alava)," BSEE 24 (1916): 166; also in Revista Ateneo (Victoria), (1918): 7.

1911

  • Oppenheim, Benoit. Originalwerke in Holz, Stein, Elfenbein usw. aus der Sammlung Benoit Oppenheim, Berlin. Supplementary vol. Leipzig, 1911: no. 136, pl. 79.

1920

  • Lüthgen, Eugen. Die Abendländische Kunst des 15. Jahrhunderts. Bonn, 1920: 51-52.

1925

  • "St. George and the Dragon, English School." Photo caption in Art News 24 (December 1925): 8, repro.

1926

  • Nelson, Philip. "Some Undescribed English Alabaster Carvings." Archeological Journal 83 (1926): 44-45, pl. IX, c. 1370.

1930

  • Hildburgh, W. L. "Further Notes on English Alabaster Carvings." The Antiquaries Journal 10 (1930): 37 n. 8.

1931

  • Tavendar, Augusta S. "An English St. George in America." Parnassus 3 (October 1931): 28-29.

1934

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. "A Tribute to Otto M. Kahn as Art Collector." Art News 32 (April 1934): 10.

1940

  • Swarzenski, Georg. "The Arts of the Middle Ages." Art News 38 (February 1940): color repro., cover.

1943

  • Douglas, R. Langton. Review of Charles Rufus Morey, Medieval Art. In Art in America 31 (October 1943): 204.

1944

  • Hildburgh, W. L. "Some Presumably Datable Fragments of an English Alabaster Retable and Some Assembled Notes on English Alabaster Carvings in Spain." The Antiquaries Journal 24 (1944): 37.

1945

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 174, repro., as English 15th Century.

1946

  • "Princely Gifts to the Washington Gallery: Sculpture from the Kress Collection." Illustrated London News 9 February 1946: 161, repro., as Nottingham, early fifteenth century.

  • Douglas, Robert Langton. "Recent Additions to the Kress Collection." The Burlington Magazine 88 (1946): 85.

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. Supplement to the Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1946: 9, repro.

1948

  • Swarzenski, Hanns. "Washington: Neuerwerbungen der Skulpturen Abteilung der National Gallery of Art." Phoebus 2 (1948): 39.

1949

  • Tavendar, Augusta S. "Three Medieval English Alabasters in French Churches." Speculum 24 (1949): 397-406, pl. III.

  • Seymour, Charles. Masterpieces of Sculpture from the National Gallery of Art. Washington and New York, 1949: 11, 172, note 5, repro. 34-36.

1955

  • Stone, Lawrence. Sculpture in Britain; the Middle Ages. Baltimore and Harmondsworth, 1955: 191, pl. 148A.

  • Tavendar, Augusta S. "Medieval English Alabasters in American Museums." Speculum 30 (1955): 65.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 383, repro., as English School, early XV Century.

1962

  • Gettens, Rutherford J. "Minerals in Art and Archeology." Smithsonian Report 1961 Washington, 1962: 553, pl. 1, fig. 2.

1964

  • Pitman, Clement F. "Speculations on Fourteenth-Century English Alabaster Work." The Connoisseur 155 (February 1964): 89.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 154.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 136, repro.

1975

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 619, 621, fig. 949.

1976

  • Middeldorf, Ulrich. Sculptures from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools XIV-XIX Century. London, 1976: 118-119, fig. 200.

  • Pope-Hennessy, John. "A Quota of Masterpieces." Apollo 104 (1976): 72.

1978

  • King, Marian. Adventures in Art: National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1978: 27, pl. 7.

1979

  • Sutton, Denys. "Robert Langton Douglas. Part IV." Apollo 110 (July 1979): 51 [243], 52 [244] fig. 16.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 621, no. 956, repro., as English 14th Century.

1992

  • National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 281, repro.

1994

  • Sculpture: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1994: 80, repro.

1999

  • Franco Mata, Angela. El retablo Gótico de Cartagena y los alabastros ingleses en España. Cajamurcia, 1999: 77, 108 fig. 120, 124, 133 n. 159.

2003

  • Fenton, James. "The Last English Style." The New York Review of Books 50, no. 20 (December 18, 2003): 83.

2007

  • Exposición Canciller Ayala. Exh. cat. Catedral Nueva Maria Immaculada. Vitoria-Gastieiz, 2007: 96-98, 120, repros. 96 and 119 (detail).

2015

  • Capwell, Tobias. Armour of the English Knight 1400-1450. London, 2015: fig. 1.8.

2016

  • National Gallery of Art. Highlights from the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Washington, 2016: 39, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q63809354

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