Dante Gabriel Rossetti

St George and Princess Sabra

1862

Image released under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED

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Not on display

Artist: Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828–1882
Medium: Watercolour on paper
Dimensions: Support: 524 × 308 mm
frame: 732 × 517 × 32 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Bequeathed by Beresford Rimington Heaton 1940
Reference: N05231

Display caption

This is one of a number of watercolours by Rossetti illustrating the legend of St George. Having killed the dragon, St George washes the blood from his hands in his upturned helmet. He watches through the window as a crowd carries the dragon's head in triumph. Typically, Rossetti makes the public celebration subordinate to the interaction between St George and Princess Sabra whose life he saved. In an intimate and disturbing scene, she kneels kissing his bloodied hands. Elizabeth Siddall, whom Rossetti had married in 1860, modelled for Princess Sabra, only days before taking an overdose of laudanum.

Gallery label, August 2004

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