St George and the Dragon by Briton Rivière: After the Fight

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The fight is already over

Most images of Saint George show the knight on horseback, spearing the dragon. Briton Rivière painted what comes after. The dragon lies dead, its huge scaly body filling the canvas, and the knight lies stretched out on the rocks beside it.

The painting dates from 1908 to 1909. Rivière gave it to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where it still belongs.

A knight in silver armour, exhausted

Knight in silver armour lying on his back on rocks, face turned up — Saint George lies exhausted after the fight.

George lies on his back in shining armour, his face turned up to the sky, his arm resting across his chest. A red stain spreads near his side. It is unclear at first whether he is dead, wounded or simply worn out.

A caption published in 1914 described him as asleep. The ambiguity is part of the painting’s force: victory has cost everything he had.

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The dragon fills the picture

Dead dragon’s head with open jaws beside the knight’s armoured leg — The dragon lies dead beside him.

The dragon’s head lies near the knight, jaws open, teeth bared. Its green and bronze scales cover most of the canvas, rendered with the same care Rivière gave to the fur of dogs and lions.

Dark horse’s head with harness lying still — The horse lies still at the bottom.

At the bottom, the dark head and harness of George’s horse appear, lying still. The heroic group of rider, horse and monster has collapsed into a heap.

A painting read through the First World War

In 1914 the picture was reproduced in King Albert’s Book, a tribute to Belgium after the German invasion. In that context the dragon was read as the threat to Europe and the exhausted knight as the cost of resisting it. The painting was made before the war, but that reading gave it a new meaning.

Questions about St George and the Dragon

Where is the original?

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, gift of the artist (1914.152).

When was it painted?

1908 to 1909.

Is Saint George dead?

The painting leaves it open. A 1914 caption described him as asleep after the fight.

How large is it?

145.1 × 119.4 centimetres, oil on canvas.

Sources and image credit

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts: St George and the Dragon

Public-domain reproduction of St George and the Dragon (1908 to 1909). Detail images are crops of the same historical painting; no reconstruction or upscaling.