Saint George and the Princess

Pisanello's Saint George and the Princess, dated around 1435 and located in the church of Sant'Anastasia in Verona, is a fresco fragment that is among the most celebrated images of the International Gothic in Italy. The fresco depicts the moment before Saint George confronts the dragon that has been terrorizing the city, with the princess who had been offered as a sacrifice standing behind him. Pisanello fills the scene with the extraordinary naturalistic observation that distinguishes him: horses in various poses, dogs, exotic animals, a gallows with hanged men in the background. The work was produced for the Pellegrini Chapel and survives as a fragment of a larger composition that established Pisanello's international reputation.

Pisanello renders the horses and animals with the precision of a naturalist and draughtsman of the first order. The figures of George and the princess are elegantly attired in courtly fashion. The spatial organization is more decorative than perspectivally rational, but the overall effect is one of extraordinary vitality and observation.