Saint George and the Princess of Trebizond
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Saint George and the Princess'' is a fresco by the Italian master
Pisanello Pisanello (c. 1380/1395c. 1450/1455), born Antonio di Puccio Pisano or Antonio di Puccio da Cereto, also erroneously called Vittore Pisano by Giorgio Vasari, was one of the most distinguished painters of the early Italian Renaissance and Quattroc ...
, located in the Pellegrini Chapel of the Church of
Sant'Anastasia Sant'Anastasia ( nap, Santa Nastàsë) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about northeast of Naples. Sant'Anastasia borders the following municipalities: Casalnuovo di Napoli ...
,
Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...
, northern
Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. It is one of the most notable works of
International Gothic International Gothic is a period of Gothic art which began in Burgundy, France, and northern Italy in the late 14th and early 15th century. It then spread very widely across Western Europe, hence the name for the period, which was introduced by th ...
painting.


History

The work was commissioned by the Pellegrini family, as testified by Andrea Pellegrini's testament of 1429. The external fresco, only partially preserved, was part of a cycle decorating the whole chapel. The date of the work is uncertain. It is generally assigned to the period between the painter's return from Rome in 1433 and his departure to
Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...
in 1438. The terracotta decoration of the chapel is documented as existing in 1436 and the frescoes are perhaps from the same period, although the two works would hardly coexist. Some scholars date it to 1444-1446, after the Council of Ferrara, due to details connected to the Byzantine diplomats who took part in the latter (such as the horse with broken nostrils used by the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaiologos, or the style of some figures' hats). Such details could however come from
Manuel II Palaiologos Manuel II Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( gr, Μανουὴλ Παλαιολόγος, Manouēl Palaiológos; 27 June 1350 – 21 July 1425) was Byzantine emperor from 1391 to 1425. Shortly before his death he was tonsured a monk and received the na ...
' procession at the
Council of Constance The Council of Constance was a 15th-century ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held from 1414 to 1418 in the Bishopric of Constance in present-day Germany. The council ended the Western Schism by deposing or accepting the res ...
(1414–1418): similar elements existed in the lost frescoes by Pisanello in St. John Lateran, documented by some surviving drawings based on those frescoes. The fresco was long exposed to water seepage from the ceiling of the church and was severely damaged, especially in the left part which contains the dragon. The surviving part was detached from the wall in the 19th century, but this caused the loss of the metallic and gilt decorations.


Description

The fresco was formed by two parts: the right one, with
St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...
leaving the Princess of Trebizond (Trabzon), which is in good condition; and the left one, with the dragon in the sea, which is nearly lost. The surviving section shows the moment of St. George's legend in which he is mounting his horse (shown from the rear) before sailing to kill the dragon which was to devour the daughter of the city's king. Behind the princess, on the right, are three horses with knights, and a crouched ram. On the left are a hound and a
companion dog A companion dog is a dog that does not work, providing only companionship as a pet, rather than usefulness by doing specific tasks. Many of the toy dog breeds are used only for the pleasure of their company, not as workers. Any dog can be a compa ...
. The painting is highly detailed in the armor, the harnesses, and the garments of the princess and her following. The princess has an elaborate hairdo, with bends holding a large mass of hair; the latter begins very high on the brow, according to a style which was popular in the early 15th century, obtained by cutting the hair on the brow and the temples with a lit candle. The princess' dress is a sumptuous one in cloth and fur. The animals show Pisanello's passion for the portrayal of natural elements. The left part is occupied by a procession of curious people, depicted in smaller proportions, who have gathered near the place where George's boat is ready to sail off. Their faces show a variety of portraits, which were accurately studied as testified by the numerous drawings executed by Pisanello and his workshop (now mostly housed in the Vallardi Codex, at the Cabinet des Dessins of the Louvre Museum in
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
). Among them are two grotesque faces, perhaps inspired by the descriptions of
Ottoman Turks The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
who were besieging
Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
, or perhaps by the older accounts of the
Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, 'Great State' in Turkic, was originally a Mongols, Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the fr ...
. The upper part features a high cliff with an idealized depiction of Trabzon with rich architecture of towers, spires of religious buildings and, on the far right, a castle. Typical of International Gothic, there are some macabre and grotesque elements: outside the city walls are two hanged men, one with his hose fallen. The latter were perhaps inspired by the daily experience of the author at the Piazza delle Forche in Florence ("Gallows Square"). Some original color details are lost, including the tempera layer above the face, which now has become pale white; the sky, now heavily darkened; the silver of the armor, obtained by metal insertions, has now disappeared leaving a nearly black surface. In the damaged section of the fresco, only a few details have survived. The most significant of these is a
salamander Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by their lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All ten ...
walking among the bones and other remains of the dragon's victims.


References


Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint George And The Princess Paintings by Pisanello 1430s paintings Gothic paintings Horses in art Dogs in art Religious paintings Paintings in Verona