Saint George and the Dragon

St George and the Dragon - Anonymous - Monastery Asomaton - Amari (Crete)

 
Saint George was a knight and born in Cappadocia. One time he came to the city of Silene in the province of Libya. Near this city was a pond, wherein there was a dragon which was poisoning all the country. Whenever he approached the city he poisoned the people with his breath, and therefore the people of the city gave to him every day two sheep to eat, so that he would do no harm to the people. When they ran out of sheep, he was given a man and a sheep. Then an ordinance was made that the children and young people of the town should be chosen by lottery to feed the dragon. Whoever the lot fell upon, wealthy or poor, he or she was delivered to the dragon.

Saint George and the Dragon - Rogier van der Weyden - 1435

St George and the Dragon - Bernardo Martorell - 1435

St George slaying the Dragon - Jost Haller - 1445-5

St George slaying the Dragon - Jost Haller - 1445-50 (Detail Dragon)



Saint George and the Dragon - Paolo Uccello - c.1456 (National Gallery)



Saint George and the Dragon - Paolo Uccello - c.1459 (Louvre)


One time the lot fell upon the king's daughter, and the sorrowful king said to his people, "For the love of the gods take gold and silver and all that I have, but let me have my daughter."
They said, "Sir, you have made the law, and our children are now dead, but you would do the contrary. Your daughter shall be given, or else we shall burn you and your house."
Seeing that he could do no more, the king began to weep, and said to his daughter, "Now I shall never see you married."
Then he returned to the people and asked for eight days' respite, which they granted to him. When the eight days were passed they came to him and said, "You see that the city is perishing."
Then the king had his daughter dressed like a bride, embraced and kissed her, gave her his blessing, then led her to the place where the dragon was.




Saint George slaying the Dragon - Master of the St. George's Altarpiece - 1470



Saint George and the Dragon - Anonymous - c.1480-90



Saint George and the Dragon - Vittore Carpaccio 1502



Saint George and the Dragon - Vittore Carpaccio 1502 (Detail)



Saint George and the Dragon - Luca Signorelli - 1505



St George fighting the Dragon - Raphael - 1505



St George and the Dragon - Raphael - 1506


When she was there Saint George passed by, and seeing the lady, he asked her what she was doing there.
She said, "Go your way, fair young man, lest you perish as well."
Then he said, "Tell me why you are weeping."
When she saw that he insisted on knowing, she told him how she had been delivered to the dragon.
Then Saint George said, "Fair daughter, doubt not, for I shall help you in the name of Jesus Christ."
She said, "For God's sake, good knight, go your way, for you cannot save me."





St George and the Dragon - Carpaccio Vittore - 1516

 

St. George and the Dragon - Il Sodoma - 1518



St George and the Dragon - Lelio Orsi - 1550



St George and the Dragon - Tintoretto - 1544


While they were thus talking together the dragon appeared and came running toward them. Saint George, who was on his horse, drew his sword, made the sign of the cross, then rode swiftly toward the dragon. He struck him with his spear, injuring him severely.
Then he said to the maid, "Tie your belt around the dragon's neck, and be not afraid."
When she had done so the dragon followed her meekly. She led him into the city, and the people fled in fear.
Saint George said to them, "Doubt not. Believe in God and Jesus Christ, and be baptized, and I shall slay the dragon."




Saint George and the Dragon -  Tintoretto - 1555



Saint George and the Dragon - Anthony van Dyck - c.1600




St. George and the Dragon - Peter Paul Ruebens - 1606




Landscape with Saint George and the Dragon - Peter Paul Rubens - 1630

 Then the king and all his people were baptized, whereupon Saint George killed the dragon and cut off his head. It took four ox-carts to remove his body from the city.
At that time fifteen thousand men were baptized, not counting women and children. The king established a church there in honor of Our Lady and of Saint George, in which there flows to this day a fountain of living water that heals sick people who drink from it.
The king offered to Saint George as much money as he could count, but he refused it, asking instead that it be given to poor people for God's sake. Then he made four requests of this king: that he [the king] should have charge of the churches, that he should honor the priests, that he should hear their service diligently, and that he should have pity on the poor people. Then Saint George took leave of the king and departed.

 Abstracted from The Golden Legend; or, Lives of the Saints, compiled by Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, 1275. First edition published in 1470. Translated into English by William Caxton, first edition 1483.




Saint George and the Dragon - Edward Burne Jones - 1868



St George and the Dragon - Hans Von Marees - 1880



St George and the Dragon -  Gustave Moreau - 1890



Saint Georges and the Dragon - Briton Riviere - 1908-9



Let's go West!

Inspirado en unos cursos a distancia que imparte la Universidad de Yale en su programa abierto (OCW) se me ha despertado un gran interés por una etapa histórica a la que no había prestado mucha atención anteriormente (bueno, por lo menos de una manera estructurada): el siglo XIX en los Estados Unidos.

Dicho así suena muy académico, pero…esta es la época de la conquista del Oeste, las caravanas, los grandes ranchos, Chisum, el Oregon Trail, las estampidas, las violentas ciudades en las rutas del ganado, los sheriffs, los pistoleros, Jesse James, Billy el Niño, las diligencias, el ferrocarril, la fiebre del oro, la guerra de secesión, Gettysburg, Shiloh, las guerras indias, Custer, Caballo Loco, Toro Sentado,…en fin cientos de nombres y lugares reales, que por cierto, ocuparon un puesto muy importante en la fantasía juvenil de mi generación (la de los nacidos en 1960!). 

Los niños y jóvenes de hoy en día juegan en fabulosos mundos  virtuales y en galaxias lejanas, pero casi todos nosotros tuvimos el fuerte de madera y las figuritas de plástico, indios de torso descubierto y plumas en la cabeza, soldados de azul a caballo (los confederados grises no peleaban contra los indios, además perdieron y ya se sabe lo que pasa), en el patio de recreo jugábamos a indios y vaqueros, nos vimos todas las películas del Oeste y muchos devoramos las novelas de Marcial Lafuente Estefanía y Zane Grey.

Si esta época era fantástica como entorno de nuestros juegos, he de decir que es absolutamente apasionante  si se estudia con rigor histórico. Todos aquellos míticos lugares encuentran su sitio en el fabuloso escenario geográfico que se extiende al oeste del rio Mississippi, y todos los personajes nos muestran sus caras reales, el heroísmo de muchos desconocidos y la extremada vileza de algunos muy famosos, las autenticas razones detrás de tantos episodios, entre ellos la sangrienta Guerra Civil en la que las bajas americanas en ambos bandos duplicaron a las de la Segunda Guerra Mundial con una población total muchísimo menor. 

El tiempo ya trascurrido permite que la versión de los vencedores no ahogue a la de los vencidos, sean los colonos sobre los indios, los Yanquis sobre los Confederados, o la Unión sobre los Estados, y podamos analizar con mayor rigor las causas que impulsaron los apasionantes sucesos de este siglo.

Y como después de la efusión histórica y estratégica siempre termino por caer hacia el lado artístico de las cosas, cuelgo aquí algunas pinturas que retratan esta época. He querido para empezar evitar los autores más famosos como Remington o Russell, a los que algún día les dedicare un post monográfico.

Plunder from Sonora - Howard Terpning

Crow Country - Howard Terpning

Shield of Her Husband - Howard Terpning

Cooling Off The Hard Way - Howard Terpning

Crossing Below The Falls - Howard Terpning

Far in the West there lies a desert land, where the mountains
Lift, through perpetual snows, their lofty and luminous summits.
Down from their jagged, deep ravines, where the gorge, like a gateway,
Opens a passage rude to the wheels of the emigrant's wagon,
Westward the Oregon flows and the Walleway and Owyhee.
Eastward, with devious course, among the Wind-river Mountains,
Through the Sweet-water Valley precipitate leaps the Nebraska;
And to the south, from Fontaine-qui-bout and the Spanish sierras,
Fretted with sands and rocks, and swept by the wind of the desert.
Numberless torrents, with ceaseless sound, descend to the ocean.
Like the great chords of a harp, in loud and solemn vibrations...

(Contd.)

Encampment Surrounded By Mountains - Thomas Hill

Mount Shasta from Castle Lake - Thomas Hill

Squaw Valley near Now-ow-wa-aka (Old Grizzly's Den Invaded) - Thomas Hill

Sugar Loaf Peak El Dorado County - Thomas Hill

The Salmon Festival Columbia River - Thomas Hill

Yosemite Valley - Thomas Hill

 ...Spreading between these streams are the wondrous, beautiful prairies,
Billowy bays of grass ever rolling in shadow and sunshine.
Bright with luxuriant clusters of roses and purple amorplias.
Over them wander the buffalo herds, and the elk and the roebuck;
Over them wander the wolves, and herds of riderless horses;
Tires that blast and blight, and winds that are weary with travel;
Over them wander the scattered tribes of Ishmael's children,
Staining the desert with blood; and above their terrible war trails
Circles and sails aloft, on pinions majestic, the vulture,
Like the implacable soul of a chieftain slaughtered in battle,
By invisible stairs ascending and scaling the heavens.
Here and there rise smokes from the camps of these savage marauders;
Here and there rise groves from the margins of swiftrunning rivers;
And the grim, taciturn bear, the anchorite monk of the desert,
Climbs down their dark ravines to dig for roots by the brook-side,
While over all is the sky, the clear and crystalline heaven,
Like the protecting hand of God inverted above them.

The Far West - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Nez Perce Crossing Yellowstone - John Clymer

 

Rocky Trail - John Clymer

Crows Hunting Buffalo - John Clymer

"A jail is just like a nutshell with a worm in it, the worm will always get out." - John Dillinger several weeks before he bluffed his way out of the Lake County Jail in Crown Point, Indiana.

"There is no law, no restraint in this seething cauldron of vice and depravity.” – The New York Tribune describing Abilene, Kansas.

"They say I killed six or seven men for snoring. It ain't true. I only killed one man for snoring." - John Wesley Hardin.

Home Of The Navajo - Frank Tenney Johnson

Camp of the Pale Face - Frank Tenney Johnson

The Mesa - Frank Tenney Johnson

"I'm not afraid to die like a man fighting, but I would not like to be killed like a dog unarmed." - Billy the Kid in a letter to Governor Lew Wallace, March 1879.

"Of all the eerie, dreary experiences, to be lost at night on the prairie ... then to hear the chorus of coyotes, like hyenas, laughing at one’s predicament.” – An emigrant recalling her fear when she and her fellow travelers temporarily lost their bearings while crossing the Great Plains.

"We never did hang the wrong one but once or twice, and them fellers needed to be hung anyhow jes' on general principles." - A nameless judge in the Old West.

Bently's Trading Post - Robert McGinnis

Red River Valley - Robert McGinnis

Tracker - Robert McGinnis

"The more Indians we can kill... the less will have to be killed the next war, for the more I see of these Indians, the more convinced I am that they all have to be killed or be maintained as a species of paupers." - General William Tecumseh Sherman

"I like to dance, but not in the air." - Billy the Kid

"All my life I wanted to be a bank robber. Carry a gun and wear a mask. Now that it's happened I guess I'm just about the best bank robber they ever had. And I sure am happy." - John Dillinger

Gold Dust - Robert McGinnis

First Move - Robert McGinnis

Searchers - Robert McGinnis

"A pioneer is a man who turned all the grass upside down, strung bob-wire over the dust that was left, poisoned the water, cut down the trees, killed the Indian who owned the land and called it progress." - Charles M. Russell

"Gentlemen, I find the law very explicit on murdering your fellow man, but there's nothing here about killing a Chinaman. Case dismissed." - Judge Roy Bean

"If I owned Hell and Texas I'd rent out Texas and live in Hell." - General William Tecumseh Sherman

"Hang 'em first, try 'em later." - Judge Roy Bean

The Overseer - Mian Situ

The Forty Niners - Mian Situ

Beef, Beans and Biscuits - Mian Situ