Saint George and the Dragon
Bernat Martorell·1434–35
Historical Context
Saint George and the Dragon by Bernat Martorell is one of the masterpieces of the International Gothic style, a sophisticated court art that flourished across Europe in the early 15th century. The painting depicts the legendary Christian knight slaying the dragon to rescue the princess, a story that had become one of the most popular subjects in medieval art.
Martorell was the leading painter in Barcelona during the first half of the 15th century, and this panel demonstrates the extraordinary refinement of Catalan painting during this period. The International Gothic style, with its elegant line, rich color, and attention to decorative detail, was perfectly suited to the courtly culture of the Catalan-Aragonese kingdom.
The painting's combination of fairy-tale charm with gruesome naturalism — the scattered bones and skulls of the dragon's previous victims are rendered with unflinching precision — reflects the medieval mind's ability to hold beauty and horror in creative tension.
Technical Analysis
Martorell's technique is a tour de force of Gothic painting. The surface is alive with intricate detail — the saint's gleaming armor, the dragon's scales, the princess's elaborate gown — all rendered with the precision of a goldsmith. The composition is dynamic despite the painting's decorative flatness, with the diagonal thrust of George's lance creating a powerful sense of action.
The gold ground and rich, jewel-like colors — deep reds, brilliant blues, luminous greens — create an almost icon-like effect that places the scene outside ordinary time and space. The landscape, though stylized, includes naturalistic details like specific plants and rock formations that show Martorell's careful observation of the Catalan countryside. The dragon is a remarkable creation, combining reptilian anatomy with pure fantasy in a creature that is both terrifying and oddly beautiful.
Provenance
Probably commissioned for the chapel of Saint George, Palau de la Generalitat, Barcelona [Sobré in Wolff 2008]; Don Francesc de Sales de Rocabruna i Jordà, Baron of Albi, by 1867, died 1874 [lent by him to Barcelona 1867, along with the four lateral panels now in the Louvre, Paris, and a painting of the Virgin, probably the painting now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art]; when his estate was divided between his sister Maria Josepa de Rocabruna i Jordà (d. 1890) and his widow Josepa de Rocabruna i Pascual (died 1884), Saint George and the Dragon is likely to have passed to his widow, since two of her three executors correspond to the executors mentioned in the confused account of the painting’s sale in Sanpere y Miquel 1906, vol. 1, p. 195, vol. 2, p. 275 [see Macías and Cornudella 2011-2012, pp. 21-22 for the family relationships and likely transmission]. Don José Ferrer-Vidal i Soler, Barcelona, by 1906, until 1917 [Sanpere y Miquel 1906, vol. 1, p. 194, see also Macías and Cornudella 2012, p. 22 and Sánchez Sauleda 2014, p. 429]; sold by him to Charles Deering, Marycel, Sitges, near Barcelona, and Chicago, in 1917 [see Sánchez Sauleda 2014]; the painting was placed on loan at the Art Institute in 1921; loan agreement, Nov. 18, 1921, Art Institute Archives]; given to his daughters, Marion Deering McCormick and Barbara Deering Danielson, 1924 [Art Institute Archives]; given by them to the Art Institute, 1933.
