Saint George and the Dragon

A knight no bigger than a hand charges a dragon, and on his leg a tiny blue garter carries the word HONI. Raphael painted this little panel around 1505 as a gift between a duke of Urbino and a king of England.

The story behind the painting

In 1504 King Henry VII of England gave the Order of the Garter to Guidobaldo da Montefeltro, Duke of Urbino, who was Raphael's patron. The painting was presumably commissioned by the Duke as a gift in return, either for Sir Gilbert Talbot, the English envoy who brought the regalia to Urbino, or for Henry himself, and recent scholarship leans towards the king. The honour shown to a minor Italian ruler reflected Henry's regard for the cultural prestige of Renaissance Italy as much as any diplomatic aim.

What to look for

This is a small cabinet painting in oil on wood, about 28.5 by 21.5 cm according to Wikidata, made to be held and studied up close. Look at Saint George's leg: he wears the blue garter of the English order, and the first word of its motto, HONI, can still be made out. Early in his career Raphael painted several such tiny pictures, including another Saint George now in the Louvre and the Vision of a Knight in the National Gallery in London, so this panel belongs to a family of jewel-like works.

Meaning and intent

The subject suited the occasion perfectly. The legend of Saint George and the Dragon joins chivalry and Christianity in one image: a mounted knight defending the faith. Guidobaldo, like his father, was a condottiero, the owner of a company of mercenary soldiers, so a warrior saint was a fitting emblem for a gift from his court. The garter on the saint's leg ties the old legend to a very recent event, turning a religious image into a polite message of thanks between two courts.

Legacy

The panel travelled far. By 1627 it belonged to William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, at Wilton House, and either the 3rd or 4th earl gave it to King Charles I. After the English Civil War it was sold from the Royal Collection in London on 19 December 1651 and soon reached France. It became a highlight of the Pierre Crozat collection, bought by Catherine the Great in 1772, and for a century and a half it was one of the most popular paintings in the Hermitage. In 1931 it was sold by the Soviet state to Andrew Mellon, and it became part of his founding gift to the National Gallery of Art in Washington.