BELLINI, Giovanni
(b. ca. 1426, Venezia, d. 1516, Venezia)

Pesaro Altarpiece (predella)

1471-74
Oil on wood, 40 x 36 cm
Musei Civici, Pesaro

The picture shows St George and the Dragon, one of the seven panels of the predella of the Pesaro Altarpiece (the first from the left).

George, the knightly saint so dear to the noble courts, and Terence, saint of Pesaro represented as an ancient "miles", occupy the compartments at the base of the pilasters, where heraldic insignia were usually placed, and thus represent the civil and military power of the Sforza. Behind Terence, on the left, a Roman memorial tablet with a bust and an inscription extolling the emperor Augustus completes the celebratory reference to the 'potestas' of the ducal family.