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Overview
This engraving is the last work before Albrecht Dürer's sudden departure on a second trip to Venice in order to escape the Great Plague. The print was probably almost complete because the date 1505 had already been engraved in the plate at the bottom. It was subsequently corrected to read 1508. The background is deliberately reduced in scale for sake of contrast and any indication of a landscape is omitted.
In this engraving Dürer sought to combine the monumentality of The Large Horse (also in the Te Papa collection) with the elegance of The Small Horse. Pictured from behind, this unusual stance effectively conveys a feeling of pause before the chivalrous and saintly warrior forges ahead to further defend the Faith, after having killed the dragon, sprawled at the horse's feet. St George looks heavenwards, while the horse looks straight ahead - one of the many masterly pyschological and spiritual nuances that Dürer captured so effectively. A similar figure is used for one of the spectators of the Crucifixion in the Ober-St Veit Altarpiece, which was completed in Dürer's workshop under the supervision of Hans Leonhard Schāufelein during his absence in Italy.
See Web Gallery of Art, http://www.wga.hu/html_m/d/durer/2/13/2/046.html
Dr Mark Stocker, Curator Historical International Art December 2016