Description of the picture:
St. Jora – Andrea Mantegna. Around 1446. Wood, tempera. 66×32
Andrea Mantegna (1430 / 1431-1506) went into the family of Venetian painters of Bellini, was married to Nicolosia, daughter of Jacopo (on whose sketch a magnificent sketch of the armor of the hero of the presented work was made) and sister Gentile and Giovanni. In fame and skill, the painter was completely on par with his famous relatives. Moreover, it is specifically named among those who decisively influenced the Venetian painting of the late 15th century.
Mantegna was born in Isola di Carturo on Terraferme, in the Veneto region. Fascinated by the findings of the humanists who were visiting his stepfather in the antique shop in Padua, he was proud of the glorious past of his own land. The artist was not even 30 years old when he created a masterpiece – an altar in the church of San Zeno in Verona, widely glorifying his name. The master successfully worked in Padua, was a court painter of the Mantuan rulers of Gonzag. Contemporaries admired his technical excellence, “magnificent design”, and especially the ability to convey complex angles using the laws of geometric perspective.
The effect of a simple composition with St. George is built on the contrast of the background, lasting due to the bend of the road, and the courageous figure of a young warrior in armor, literally protruding from the frame to the viewer and towering above the defeated monster.
There is an assumption that “Saint George” represents one of the cusps of the now lost polyptych."