St. George And The Dragon, 1397-1470
“Comparison & Contrast”
Art work can provide excellent opportunities for expression and makes varying impressions on the masses; the beauty is that each experience is genuinely unique. Paolo Uccello (Italian, 1397-1475), created the oil on canvas painting St. George and the Dragon, 1470. Almost five hundred and twenty years later, Uccello’s painting inspired another artist in her own right, Ursula Askham Fanthorpe. Fanthorpe, an English poet, found herself moved by Uccello’s painting and was inspired to write the poem, “Not My Best Side” (1989). The concept of ekphrasis displays how both contrasting mediums can create inspiration individually, as well as the unique experience they can create together, especially in referencing the ambient impression, symbolic variance, an emphasis of the subject matter, and an overall impact on the audience.
The oil on canvas painting by Uccello is based on the legendary story “St. George and the Dragon” which took place in Libya, which was the sufficiently exotic locale where a creature like a dragon might be imagined. The name of the city used in the tenth-century Georgian narrative is Lasia, and it is fictional. The fictitious city had a pond that was as large as a lake, and this is where the dragon resided. To appease the dragon, the people of city would …show more content…
need to feed the monster two sheep every day, and when the sheep failed, they would be required to feed it their own children which were chosen by way of lottery. One day, the lot fell on the kings daughter, whose name in various versions of the story was Sabra.
The king of the city, distraught with grief and anguish told all of the residence in the city that he would give them all of his gold, silver and half of his kingdom if his daughter was spared; however, the people refused. The daughter dressed up for her own funeral as a bride, which can be seen in the painting, and was sent to the lake to be fed to the dragon. By chance of luck, the knight St. George rode on his horse past the lake and noticed the princess trembling. Even though she sought to send him away, he was adamant and decided to stay. As the princess and St. George were conversing, the dragon reared out of the lake. This is when St. George charged towards the dragon on his horse with his lance, and wounded the creature. This is the image that is portrayed in the oil painting by Paolo Uccello. The painting shows not only a battle that St. George had between the dragon in an effort to save the princess, but also shows a storm brewing in the background as a sign that there was divine intervention. The painting also shows the spear that St. George had, which is aligned with the eye of the storm helping enforce this theory.
The dragon is comparable in size to the princess and St. George in the painting which makes it difficult to separate both the strengths and weaknesses between St. George and the dragon. Although the story goes to explain that all of the residence, including the princess was petrified of the dragon because of its human eating characteristic, the painting shows the princess holding the dragon by a leash after it had been conquered, which is humorous.
The poem “Not My Best Side” by U.A. Fanthorpe was inspired by the “St. George and the Dragon” painting. The poem brings out not only a humor that is not initially seen in the painting, but also allows one to see much deeper into the painting because it is thought provoking. The poem is written to include every character that is in the painting and is told by each characters own perspective, explaining not only how they feel about themselves in the painting, but also by mentioning the surroundings within the painting by telling a story.
The dragon is the main character that mentions details of himself and of everyone else in the painting by drawing attention to how he feels the painting could have been better. He speaks about being conquered by a knight that is beardless, and makes fun of the horse that he is riding explaining that the animal has a deformed neck and square hoofs. In addition, there is also humor brought out as he draws attention to the princess in the painting as being an inedible victim because of the unattractiveness portrayed in her appearance. Lastly, the dragon does not feel as if the painting is showing enough importance to him as there is not a sufficient amount of blood in the painting which shows the lack of seriousness of the battle that he endured with St. George. It is evident that the dragon is setting the tone of his opinion with great sympathy about the painting. In comparison, the princess and the knight set the tone of their own selfishness in the poem. The princess mentions her hesitance in wanting to be saved by anyone, because she felt as if she was wanted by the dragon, and who doesn’t like the feeling of someone wanting you? The princess continues to give the dragon personification and draws attention to his big physical appearance, lovely skin which is green and even describes the tail as being sexy. She concludes with her acceptance of the dragon being beaten by the knight, and mentions that she needs to think about her future. Meanwhile St. George the knight describes having credentials in Dragon Management and Virgin Reclamation in his segment of the poem, and continues to give astonishing characteristics of himself, the horse he is riding, the spear being custom-built and wearing armor that is a new prototype and still sitting on a secret list.
The painting by Uccello is dull in color and shows a battle between reality and what could also be understood as fantasy. The impression by Uccello’s work shows that there was both humor and at times struggle. This can be interpreted both in reality, and what was unchangeable similar to fantasy. Even though battles exist in every aspect of reality we understand that they are sometime unchallengeable. The fact that Uccello uses a dragon as a character, which can be depicted as a fake character because it is non-existent, allows us to understand that the battle may have had a correlation with a person’s internal struggle.
Symbolically, the overall understanding of the atmosphere, objects, and symbols used in the painting and the poem reinforces the belief that Uccello’s work is an extraordinary contemplation of the relationship between a mental struggle common to mankind, and the fantasy of conquering some of the struggles that seem unachievable.
In addition, the humor in the poem can also be placed into perspective by allowing us to understand that even though we sometimes are defeated, we look at the brighter side of things and even make a joke or find humor in our opponents in an effort to cover up the sorrow or bad feelings we may have about them or the battle we lost against
them.
The most significant connection that can be seen between poetry and art is that they are distinctively two different types of mediums used in expressing universal human ideas, and that the interpretation is unique to each person, based on their own perspective.
Art work can provide excellent opportunities for expression and makes varying impressions on the masses; the beauty is that each experience is genuinely unique. Paolo Uccello (Italian, 1397-1475), created the oil on canvas painting St. George and the Dragon, 1470. Almost five hundred and twenty years later, Uccello’s painting inspired another artist in her own right, Ursula Askham Fanthorpe. Fanthorpe, an English poet, found herself moved by Uccello’s painting and was inspired to write the poem, “Not My Best Side” (1989). The concept of ekphrasis displays how both contrasting mediums can create inspiration individually, as well as the unique experience they can create together, especially in referencing the ambient impression, symbolic variance, an emphasis of the subject matter, and an overall impact on the audience.
The oil on canvas painting by Uccello is based on the legendary story “St. George and the Dragon” which took place in Libya, which was the sufficiently exotic locale where a creature like a dragon might be imagined. The name of the city used in the tenth-century Georgian narrative is Lasia, and it is fictional. The fictitious city had a pond that was as large as a lake, and this is where the dragon resided. To appease the dragon, the people of city would …show more content…
need to feed the monster two sheep every day, and when the sheep failed, they would be required to feed it their own children which were chosen by way of lottery. One day, the lot fell on the kings daughter, whose name in various versions of the story was Sabra.
The king of the city, distraught with grief and anguish told all of the residence in the city that he would give them all of his gold, silver and half of his kingdom if his daughter was spared; however, the people refused. The daughter dressed up for her own funeral as a bride, which can be seen in the painting, and was sent to the lake to be fed to the dragon. By chance of luck, the knight St. George rode on his horse past the lake and noticed the princess trembling. Even though she sought to send him away, he was adamant and decided to stay. As the princess and St. George were conversing, the dragon reared out of the lake. This is when St. George charged towards the dragon on his horse with his lance, and wounded the creature. This is the image that is portrayed in the oil painting by Paolo Uccello. The painting shows not only a battle that St. George had between the dragon in an effort to save the princess, but also shows a storm brewing in the background as a sign that there was divine intervention. The painting also shows the spear that St. George had, which is aligned with the eye of the storm helping enforce this theory.
The dragon is comparable in size to the princess and St. George in the painting which makes it difficult to separate both the strengths and weaknesses between St. George and the dragon. Although the story goes to explain that all of the residence, including the princess was petrified of the dragon because of its human eating characteristic, the painting shows the princess holding the dragon by a leash after it had been conquered, which is humorous.
The poem “Not My Best Side” by U.A. Fanthorpe was inspired by the “St. George and the Dragon” painting. The poem brings out not only a humor that is not initially seen in the painting, but also allows one to see much deeper into the painting because it is thought provoking. The poem is written to include every character that is in the painting and is told by each characters own perspective, explaining not only how they feel about themselves in the painting, but also by mentioning the surroundings within the painting by telling a story.
The dragon is the main character that mentions details of himself and of everyone else in the painting by drawing attention to how he feels the painting could have been better. He speaks about being conquered by a knight that is beardless, and makes fun of the horse that he is riding explaining that the animal has a deformed neck and square hoofs. In addition, there is also humor brought out as he draws attention to the princess in the painting as being an inedible victim because of the unattractiveness portrayed in her appearance. Lastly, the dragon does not feel as if the painting is showing enough importance to him as there is not a sufficient amount of blood in the painting which shows the lack of seriousness of the battle that he endured with St. George. It is evident that the dragon is setting the tone of his opinion with great sympathy about the painting. In comparison, the princess and the knight set the tone of their own selfishness in the poem. The princess mentions her hesitance in wanting to be saved by anyone, because she felt as if she was wanted by the dragon, and who doesn’t like the feeling of someone wanting you? The princess continues to give the dragon personification and draws attention to his big physical appearance, lovely skin which is green and even describes the tail as being sexy. She concludes with her acceptance of the dragon being beaten by the knight, and mentions that she needs to think about her future. Meanwhile St. George the knight describes having credentials in Dragon Management and Virgin Reclamation in his segment of the poem, and continues to give astonishing characteristics of himself, the horse he is riding, the spear being custom-built and wearing armor that is a new prototype and still sitting on a secret list.
The painting by Uccello is dull in color and shows a battle between reality and what could also be understood as fantasy. The impression by Uccello’s work shows that there was both humor and at times struggle. This can be interpreted both in reality, and what was unchangeable similar to fantasy. Even though battles exist in every aspect of reality we understand that they are sometime unchallengeable. The fact that Uccello uses a dragon as a character, which can be depicted as a fake character because it is non-existent, allows us to understand that the battle may have had a correlation with a person’s internal struggle.
Symbolically, the overall understanding of the atmosphere, objects, and symbols used in the painting and the poem reinforces the belief that Uccello’s work is an extraordinary contemplation of the relationship between a mental struggle common to mankind, and the fantasy of conquering some of the struggles that seem unachievable.
In addition, the humor in the poem can also be placed into perspective by allowing us to understand that even though we sometimes are defeated, we look at the brighter side of things and even make a joke or find humor in our opponents in an effort to cover up the sorrow or bad feelings we may have about them or the battle we lost against
them.
The most significant connection that can be seen between poetry and art is that they are distinctively two different types of mediums used in expressing universal human ideas, and that the interpretation is unique to each person, based on their own perspective.