Saint George and the Dragon
By John Dickson Batten (English 1860-1932)
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Keywords: Story, Literature, Woodblock printing, Illustration, Prediction,
Tempera, Pre-Raphaelite
Grade: 6th
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About the Artist:
John Dickson Batten (October 8, 1860; † August 5, 1932). He was born in
Plymouth, Devon, was a successful British painter of the twentieth century who
displayed often at the Royal Academy and Paris Salons. Batten worked in oils,
tempera and fresco, was a book illustrator, and print maker. He worked mostly in
oils and is well known for introducing Japanese woodblock printing to England.
He was an active member of the Society of Painters in Tempera, with his wife
Mary Batten, a gilder. Batten is also noted for implementing the revival of
tempera, a medium used by artists before the use of oil paints in the early 15th
century. His works as a painter were very detailed mythical and fabled subjects.
Batten’s many works lent itself to the illustration of fairy tales and legend. Many
of his woodblock prints were also used to illustrate literary works by the wellknown British poets Geoffrey Chaucer and Rudyard Kipling. Among Batten's
paintings: The Garden of Adonis: Amoretta and Time, The Family, Mother and
Child, Sleeping Beauty: The Princess Pricks Her Finger, Snow White and the Seven
Dwarves, and Atalanta and Melanion. He illustrated a series of fairy tale books by
Joseph Jacobs, notably English Fairy Tales (1890), Celtic Fairy Tales (1892
anthology), More Celtic Fairy Tales (1894), More English Fairy Tales (1894),
Indian Fairy Tales (1912), European Folk and Fairy Tales (also known as Europa's
Fairy Book), as well as English versions of Tales from the Arabian Nights and
Dante’s Inferno.
Vocabulary:
Story: an account of an incident or event: NARRATIVE. Statement regarding facts
of a situation: REPORT. Short story; also fable, parable. ACCOUNT.
Literature: The production of written works having excellence of form or
expression and dealing with ideas of permanent interest.
Woodblock printing: is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used
widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of
printing on textiles and later paper.
Illustration: A visual image intended to explain or decorate.
Tempera: Paint made by mixing pigments with egg yolk (egg tempera).
Prediction: To forecast based on observation, experience, or scientific reason.
Pre-Raphaelite Art:
The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (also known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group
of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt,
John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The three founders were joined by
William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens and Thomas
Woolner to form the seven-member "brotherhood", thus the Pre-Raphaelite
movement. The group's intention was to reform art by rejecting what it considered
the determined and universal approach first adopted by Mannerist. While some
of Batten’s work was not all Pre-Raphaelite, his Garden of Adonis and Sleeping
Beauty were.
In Parmigianino's Madonna with the Long Neck
(1534-40), Mannerism makes itself known by elongated proportions, highly
stylized poses, and lack of clear perspective by artists who succeeded Raphael and
Michelangelo. In contrast, the brotherhood wanted to go back to the use of much
detail, intense colors and intricate formations of Quattrocento Italian art
(is viewed as the transition from the medieval period to the age of the
Renaissance.) Sandro Botticelli's Annunciation, painted from 1489-1490, is an
example of Quattrocento art.
Annunciation
By Sandro Botticelli
About the Artwork:
The subject of Saint George and the Dragon is taken from the life of Saint George,
a popular Christian figure who also serves as the patron saint of England.
According to a13th century legend, Saint George fought a dragon outside the
walls of the Libyan city of Silene to rescue the king’s daughter from being
sacrificed. In both art and literature Saint George represents honor and bravery,
while the dragon is a symbol of Satan and the Roman Empire.
Beginning in the Middle Ages, stories and representations of Saint George and the
dragon became a popular analogy for the battle and triumph of good over evil.
Batten may also have been inspired by English poet Edmund Spencers’s 1595
The Faerie Queen, a symbolic poem following the journey of two knights as they
examine virtues important to Christian life. In this Tempera painting, Batten
depicts the moment after Saint George, dressed in a suit of armor, valiantly
slaughters the dragon and turns to release the princess.
Observe and Ask Questions:
 What is happening in the painting?
 Who are the characters?
 Where and when might this scene be taking place?
 What do you see in the painting that makes you say that?
Making Connections/Before and After:
 St. George and the Dragon is inspired by a story. Why did the artist paint
this moment of the story and not another?
 What do you think happened just before the scene in this painting?
 Draw how this story began or ended. Record a prediction of what might
happen before/after the scene in the painting. What comes next? Have
students create a comic strip or a single drawing combining words and
pictures to represent their predictions.
Project: Have students write in a short paragraph 5 or more sentences their
beginning or end of the story for St. George and the Dragon, along with an
illustration of their prediction. Encourage students to be creative both in drawing
and writing!!!
Materials for project:
 White 9x12 drawing paper
 Pencil
 Color pencils, oil pastels, crayons, or markers,
Sample Art Project: Medium Color Pencil
Sample Letters and Writing: