Symbolism In St George And The Dragon

“David Slaying Goliath” by Peter Paul Rubens is an example of Renaissance art. This painting depicts a well-known Bible story of a young Israelite boy named David who kills the giant, Goliath, with a slingshot, and chops off his head with a sword. Rubens has chosen to illustrate this Bible story at the moment when David is about to hack off Goliath’s head with the giant’s sword. In addition, we see armor-clad soldiers rushing into battle in the background. In “David Slaying Goliath,” Peter Paul Rubens uses color, value, and line to illustrate the dynamism and energy within the painting that makes it look realistic. In addition, these elements contribute to the sense of excitement and anticipation of the event depicted.

However, the artist used Christian meaning in symbols to celebrate their religion. Such symbols were a piece of garland meant victory over death, a tendril was the Eucharist, a nude figure is Christmas, a peacock is immortality, and a flying bird is a soul flying to heaven.

Throughout the history of man, humans have been faced with the decision to either follow the path of morality or the path of evil. Especially in the case of choices, fortitude becomes necessary, as one cannot give in to their inner demons. In the book Grendel, by John Gardner, the quote, “My advice to you, my violent friend, is to seek out gold and sit on it” (74) shows the true purpose of the Dragon - to demonstrate the path of malice: the path of disinterest. Also, the Dragon shows little to know caring for others, especially in the case of overall interest in the happenings of the world. This idea of indifference plays tricks in Grendel’s mind, which makes sense, as dragons through literature represent evil, greed, and violence, making this character the perfect foil for Grendel.

It is a famous example of Renaissance art showing portraiture, realism, and some perspective. In this painting there are four distinct characters. Each has a different expression that shows how they are feeling. There is also more detail in the faces then in any other parts of the painting. Another technique it demonstrates is heightened realism. Whereas before the Renaissance the figures may have been painted simply and in only enough detail to get the general idea across, these figures are shown more realistically. Lastly there is the technique of perspective as shown in the background of the painting. The sea stretches out into the sky and the land in the background is shown how it would look if the viewer was actually

They meet the lion, Aslan, who is symbolic of Jesus due to his nomadic nature and enigma of personality traits. The White Witch is indicative of the devil because of her portrayed evil attributes and her tempting some from the path of good. Aslan’s death on the stone slab is representative of Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross. Various literature critics elaborate on these instances of religious overlap.

As the viewer’s gaze lingers on this central image, his/her eyes reluctantly and painfully follow the path of the crimson red blood that spurts out of Christ’s body and so naturally trickles down his arms into a pool at the base of the cross. The red bole that seeps through the cracked gold background seems to intensify this action. The pale grayish hue of Christ’s tortured skin morbidly conveys his lifelessness.

Sir Gawain deals a savage blow to the Green Knight’s neck severing his head, only

The two main characters in the painting display elegant mannered poses and all the figures appear arranged in rather unnatural poses. There is a small scene at the foot of the Saint Catherine and Christ figures. This is thought to be the Christ child with the Virgin Mary and grandmother, Saint Anne. Below these two scenes are three smaller bordered scenes. The central one depicts two enemies reconciled by an archangel and the outer ones show Saints Michael and Margaret fighting demons. All these images show the triumph of good over evil, with the middle characters shedding their weapons and embracing. All these small pictures support that the painting was commissioned by Arigoi di Nero Arighetti to celebrate the end of a feud.

<br>At the bottom left side of the painting is a man about to be eaten by a termite who has a game table on his head. This is illustrating that the tables are turned on the man who has committed some terrible crime. In the Inferno this is represented by Lucifer eating the three worst sinners, Judas Iscariot, Brutus, and Cassius, all who betrayed their

Art in the Medieval Times was dreary and bland. Many works of art were solely about God or holy figures. The most obvious change from the Renaissance to Medieval Times was the arts, according to Document A and also that “One begins to know the names of the artists ... feel stronger emotions in the subjects”. This shows that Renaissance art not only changed in style, in changed in how it made the viewer feel when seeing the art. Similarly, in Document A, Renaissance art is described as “new artistic styles would echo the broader movements and interests of the new age.…”. As compared to Medieval Times, the style of art became something similar to the time that people could relate to. In the Medieval Times, art was just meant to extol God’s many feats. People who viewed the painting were supposed to put that style of art on a pedestal. Medieval art was supposed to be worshipped, not so much understood. The individual in the Medieval Times was supposed to take away from the painting that the only thing that mattered in their life was the Roman Catholic church and God already had a plan for their lives. But in comparison, Renaissance art was supposed to empower and help people of the time to understand themselves and the fact that they can change their own lives.

The source is an intriguing painting, as Christianity gained influence the belief system continually emerged upon the value of images in their previous cultural experience and they wanted to continue this in their Christian ideology. In this particular picture, a Crusader is kneeling before God as he is sworn to protect, serve as we he would for a feudal lord or those in need.

Stylistic concern is not the only argument that objects the painting’s attribution to Raphael, but also the inferior quality in the rendition of Mary and Christ. Observations of Beck suggest that Mary’s hair looks confusing and unsolved , while the underdrawing revealed by IR investigation shows a clearer representation of the braids that possibly the painter-in-question became more “exclusive on this own during the painting stage that he dropped the refinement of her hair” stemming from mimicking Raphael’s painting when drafting. Furthermore, the current depiction conveys a sense of obfuscation in posing of Mary’s right thigh compared to Small Cowper Madonna (fig. 2) or the Bridgewater Madonna (fig.4), with statically drawn Infant balancing difficultly on the invisible leg of Mary . It is inexplicable that the engravings (fig. 6 and 7) after the painting look more convincing that they have complemented the unnaturalness of the original.

This major innovation that Georges adds to his Caravaggio inspired paintings would be showing the light source of the painting to the viewer, and putting the light source directly in the center of the piece. In his painting, Mary Magdalen with the Smoking Flame, Georges’ goal was to create a calm, reflective state of a follower of Christ. This painting shows Mary Magdalen, a repentive prostitute, putting aside her jewels and rich clothing to meditate on mortality while looking into a flickering flame. Georges creates subtle hints of religious meaning through items throughout the painting. The skull sitting in her lap refers to morality and the vanity of human life, the books of scripture refer to her following of Christ, and the scourge refers to the pain and suffering that Mary may have been experiencing in the past or during her

Once upon a time…That is how most fairy tales begin, and mine is no different. What is different , though, is the perspective. What if the story was not narrated by the winners? What if the story was told by the very dangerous dragon? Surely it would be a whole different story, and that is exactly what I have done. My whole project goes around the idea that the antagonist is in fact the good one of the story; the victim.

The art piece that I would like to discuss for this assignment is David Call’s linocut adaption of St. George and the Dragon. When I came across this piece, the image of a knight piercing a dragon with a lance triggered my recognition right away in that I have seen something similar to this before (most likely from high school art history class). It is interesting to see the author’s contrasting depictions of Alexander Graham Bell as the evil dragon and George Veditz as the brave knight. In order to get a better understanding of the piece, I conducted a quick research and discovered that the story shared many correlations to AG Bell and his impact on the Deaf communities.