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| Saint George |
Artist:Carlo Crivelli (Italian, Venice (?), active by 1457–died 1495 Ascoli Piceno)
Date:1472
Medium:Tempera on wood, gold ground, transferred to Masonite
Dimensions:38 x 13 1/4 in. (96.5 x 33.7 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1905
Accession Number:05.41.2
These panels are from an altarpiece painted for a Dominican church in the Marchigian town of Ascoli Piceno. The central panel, a Madonna and Child signed and dated 1472, is also in the Metropolitan (Linsky Collection).
Saint George (fourth century) is shown in contemporary, fifteenth-century armor with the dragon he slew, while Saint Dominic is portrayed in a Dominican habit and holding a lily, a symbol of purity. For more information about these two paintings, including a reconstruction of the altarpiece, visit metmuseum.org.
Catalogue Entry
Saint George is shown with the dragon legend has it he killed, saving the daughter of the king of Lydia. A Christian tribune in the Roman army, George is fancifully dressed in all’antica armor; his broken lance pierces the dragon’s head. This painting belongs to a polyptych of which the central panel is a Madonna and Child (The Met, 1982.60.5), signed and dated 1472. The central panel was flanked by four standing saints: Nicholas of Bari (Cleveland Museum of Art), James Major (Brooklyn Museum), Dominic (The Met, 05.41.1), and George.
A Pietà in the Philadelphia Museum of Art has sometimes been proposed as coming from the same altarpiece, but in the event that the figures are lit from the right rather than the left, this can be eliminated. Bovero (1975) tentatively identified the altarpiece with one recorded in the convent of San Domenico, Fermo, and Lightbown (2004) gives additional evidence in favor of this provenance.
In 1949 the paint surface, which had a history of flaking, was transferred to another panel. As a result the colors appear somewhat washed out; the underdrawing is visible throughout. The face is damaged. The mail of the saint’s armor was originally silvered.
Keith Christiansen 2011
Copyright Image
https://images.metmuseum.org
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