The Language of Landscape: Albrecht Altdorfer, St. George and the Dragon (1510)
Abstract
Albrecht Altdorfer’s St. George and the Dragon presents the wildness of the forest as the proper setting for the epic battle between St. George and the dragon, portraying German space as both heroic and full of divine presence. This was one of many works by Altdorfer (c. 1480–1538) and his contemporaries that made the forest a point of focus. No longer mere backdrops, German landscapes were emerging as subjects in their own right.
Source
Source: Albrecht Altdorfer, Drachenkampf des hl. Georg [St. George and the Dragon], 1510. Materials/technique: parchment on lime wood. Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen – Alte Pinakothek Munich. Inv.-Nr.: WAF 29. Available online at: https://www.sammlung.pinakothek.de/en/artwork/9pL3Qlz4eb
Image reprinted in: Christopher Wood, Albrecht Altdorfer and the Origins of Landscape (1993). Revised and expanded second edition. London: Reaktion Books, 2014, p. 156.
Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen – Alte Pinakothek München
Further Reading
Christopher Wood, Albrecht Altdorfer and the Origins of Landscape (1993). Revised and expanded second edition. London: Reaktion Books, 2014.