Raphael's "St. George and the Dragon" is the work of a genius -- an
exquisitely rendered vision of heroism and innocence by one of the
greatest painters of all time. Yet the painting's creation is only
the beginning of its fascinating story, which spans centuries of
power play and intrigue, and has made it a witness to the rise and
fall of the great powers of the Western world as it seduced its
owners to ever greater heights of corruption and greed.
Raphael's masterpiece was commissioned by Duke Guidobaldo da
Montefeltro, the ruler of Urbino, in 1506. Raphael was only
twenty-three years old, but he had already begun to acquire a
reputation as a painter who was as ruthless in his pursuit of money
as he was talented. The duke sent the painting to England's King
Henry VII as a thank-you for naming him a knight in the Order of
the Garter.
The painting then mysteriously disappeared for one hundred years
until King Charles I saw it hanging in the collection of the Earl
of Pembroke and acquired it for a book of Holbein drawings. After
Charles was beheaded in 1649, his collection was broken up and the
painting made its way to the private gallery of the third-richest
man in France, where it was ensconced in its own special room.
Thirty years later, the philosopher Diderot was instructed by
Catherine the Great of Russia to buy it for her vast collection at
the Hermitage.
The heroic curators of the Hermitage protected "St. George and
the Dragon" from fire, water, and the anarchists of the Russian
Revolution, until Joseph Stalin sold it in 1930 to raise cash. The
secret buyer was Andrew Mellon, Treasury Secretary of the United
States, who in doing so blatantly violated a U.S. sanction against
doing any business with Soviet Russia. Mellon eventually founded
The National Gallery in Washington, D.C., where "St. George and the
Dragon" rests to this day.
Exceptionally written and breathlessly paced, "The Dragon's
Trail" is a microhistory that touches on the rise of the Tudors,
the downfall of a Stuart, the twilight of the French aristocracy,
the terrors of the Bolshevik revolution, and the depths of the Cold
War -- all witnessed by one painting that inspired the best and the
worst instincts in its owners.
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