Bronze St. George the Dragon Slayer Statue

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Saint George was a popular figure in the Middle Ages. A Roman soldier who was martyred rather than recant his christian faith, it was the time he slayed a dragon to save a princess that made George a Renaissance superstar, painted and sculpted again and again through history. The St. George is widely regarded as a tribute to the classical heroes of antiquity. His features are strong and masculine, yet delicate and youthful, as Florentines of the period liked to imagine the fabled heroes of the past. Like all of Donatello's works and the majority of biographical information about Donatello himself, there is very little information regarding how the St. George was initially received. However, it is known that the statue occupied its niche in the Orsanmichele for many years, and surely it would not have if it were not an honored and highly prized piece of art.

The statue is a mixture of bronze cloth, leather, metal, hair, and flesh. Looking at it, one gets the impression of seeing different parts with real metal, flesh, hair, cloth, and leather, not just bronze plaster. Donatello was a genius, as he saw that having marble or bronze to carve the hair would make the hair appear real.Donatello's mentor, Lorenzo Ghiberti, was also called on to supply a statue for the Orsanmichele. Around 1416, Ghiberti finished the St. John the Baptist for the cloth finishers guild's niche. Although both statues are famous and extraordinarily well-crafted renderings of beloved saints, they differ significantly with regard to style and technique. Early depictions of a horseman killing a dragon are unlikely to represent St. George, who in the 10th century was depicted as killing a human figure, not a dragon. [8] Vinica ceramic icon of Saints Christopher and George as dragon-slayers It seems that the marching of the statue in the annual procession on the saint’s feastday did not satisfy the people’s love for their protector saint; they wanted to invoke his protection even in their most dire needs.

As one of the most (if not the most) talented and influential sculptors of the Florentine Renaissance, Donatello's works were universally acclaimed and the St. George is no exception. Although it was constructed for a lesser guild and not allowed to be crafted in expensive, prestigious bronze, the statue Donatello created for the armorers guild at Orsanmichele is an incredible accomplishment, a lovely tribute to Roman heroism, and a magnificent adornment to the church. Margaret Hodges retold the legend in a 1984 children's book ( Saint George and the Dragon) with Caldecott Medal-winning illustrations by Trina Schart Hyman. Incidentally, the St. George was not the only statue that Donatello produced for a niche in the Orsanmichele. He also sculpted the St. Mark for the linen drapers guild of Florence, an equally beautiful and meticulously crafted work of art. Donatello was skilled, and could easily express emotions, feelings, and moods in his art. All of his sculptures tell a story. Born Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi in 1386, the Italian sculptor has over ten famous art pieces to his name.

Meanwhile, St. George was traveling near Silene when he encountered the princess on the road. She was distressed but resigned to her fate and told St. George what was happening. St. George pledged then and there to slay the dragon and save the princess from a gruesome and premature death. He sought out the dragon and without ceremony drew his lance and brought the dragon's reign of terror to an end. Thierry 1972, who dates the fresco to as early as the seventh century. However, this seems unlikely, as it would be three hundred years earlier than any other church fresco in the region." It is said that the price of the statue was of three hundred scudi. At that time, the parish priest at St George’s was Canon Fortunato Cutajar. Favorite Paintings from the National Gallery of Art Washington, D.C.. New York, 1946: 25-28, color repro. In 1877, it was taken processionally together with the statue of Our Lady of Sorrows to the church of the Capuchin Friars on the outskirts of Victoria, in the area know as Il-Belliegħa.

were collected in the "Legenda Aurea" in the thirteenth century. Donatello took these tales into account and created a likeness of St. George that personified him as confident and capable. Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Masterpieces of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1944: 46, color repro. Recorded in Van der Doort, A Catalogue and Description of King Charles the First's Capital Collection of Pictures, Limnings, Statues, etc, from an Ashmolean manuscript (c. 1639), prepared for press by G. Vertue (printed by W. Bathoe), 1757: 4. There is no doubt that besides the 1678 titular altarpiece by Fra Mattia Preti showing a victorious St George standing next to his white stallion and crushing the dragon under his feet, the wooden statue of the martyr saint is the most precious treasure that the Victoria basilica can boast of.The reason for such a stance has been linked to political events surrounding Florence during the years leading up to the statue's creation. In 1410 a new threat emerged from the Anatoly Alexandrovich Ostrogradsky, A small image of St. George, with the plot of the fresco of the Church of St. George in Staraya Ladoga in a stylized icon case on the façade, above the main porches, the maiolica was made in 1911–1913, Moscow, Russia. While undertaking study and excavations with Filippo Brunelleschi in Rome (1404–1407), work that gained the two men the reputation of treasure seekers, Donatello made a living by working at goldsmiths' shops. Their Roman sojourn was decisive for the entire development of Italian art in the 15th century, for it was during this period that Brunelleschi undertook his measurements of the Pantheon dome and of other Roman buildings. Brunelleschi's buildings and Donatello's sculptures are both considered supreme expressions of the spirit of this era in architecture and sculpture, and they exercised a potent influence upon the artists of the age. Besides being the titular statue of a parish in Victoria, the statue is in many ways a living relic of a people’s faith. It is not only an aristic treasure; it is the coining of the very faith that the people of Gozo have expressed throughout more than a century and a half. Cited by F. R. Shapley, Catalogue of the Italian Paintings, 2 vols., Washington, 1979: 1:394, as documented in the Recueil des Stampes...dans le Cabinet du Roi..., Volume I, 1763: 13.