ALTICHIERO da Zevio
(b. ca. 1330, Zevio, d. ca. 1390, Verona)

St George Slays the Dragon

1378-84
Fresco
Oratorio di San Giorgio, Padua

Six of the seven paintings on the northeast wall (left to the entrance) are devoted to the life and martyrdom of St George, beginning with St George Slays the Dragon in the upper register of the wall. It is characteristic of Altichiero that he did not limit the scene to the figures of the knight slaying the dragon with his lance and the princess; he added a rocky landscape that stretches deep into space at the left of the image and, as a counterpart to this on the right, included a fantastic image of the city of Silene from whose walls the king and his wife, as well as the inhabitants of the city, follow with frightened looks the battle taking place before the city gate.




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