Joanna Pitman

A delicious deep dive into the historical provenance of Raphael’s Renaissance masterpiece St. George and the Dragon. Commissioned to please England’s Henry VII, this little painting moves through the centuries and the hands of obsessed art collectors. It traveled from the Tudors to the nobility and back to Charles I, thence to France and the Crozat collection. Then it went to Russia and Catherine the Great where it hung in the Hermitage. It was displayed in the private rooms of a Russian empress. When Stalin came to power and needed Western technology for a tractor factory, it was sold to Andrew Mellon, who gifted the American people with his collection of great paintings and the building that houses the National Gallery of Art.

I was fascinated and now I wish I could visit St. George in DC and then see the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Hermitage too.… (more)

Raphael's St. George and the Dragon is one the most celebrated pieces of Renaissance art. Joanna Pitman follows the journey of this great work throughout history, illuminating both the history of art and the lives of the owners. The full provenance of the painting goes from Duke Guidobaldo to Henry VII to Henry VIII to the Earl of Pembroke to Charles I to the Marquis of Sourdis to Pierre Crozat to Catherine the Great of Russia to the Hermitage Gallery to Andrew Mellon, and finally, to the Washington National Gallery of Art. Along this string of owners are many perilous events that almost consumed the piece forever. The full 504-year history of the work is a joy to read.… (more)