St. George and the Dragon

It was a matter of pure coincidence, but I was looking for some other stuff over the net and I eventually found this:

 Oh, you can see how I had no option but to get it, right? It belongs to Reconquer Designs ranges, which have quite pretty interesting medieval stuff, mostly focused in Reconquista, but with some other generic models.

In fact I found it on my local shop's web, which has a 3D printing service, and it made the whole thing much easier. When I got the actual model I couldn't be more pleased. Absolutely delightful and just right like the pic above. The details are stunning and everything was lovely. So I couln't wait to throw some paint on it!

This is technically a Wyvern, but it will do

I thought of doing the dragon red, but in the end I went for a more classic green. In fact I gave it the same treatment as the Orc Warlord on Wyvern from a few weeks ago. I made some research on St. George and the Dragon representations in art through history and there are a lot of different interpretations and readings of both the knight and the beast. However, I think this is the first time I see St. George in this Norman style.

To be fitted later!

Apparently St. George was a Roman officer of Cappadocian Greek ascendance, a Praetorian to Diocletian, and who was sentenced to death for not abjuring his Christian faith. Wikipedia assists me by stating that the Diocletian Persecution of 303 was especifically aimed at Christians within the ranks of the professional soldiers of the Roman Army, and hence when George was caught. He was beheaded at Nicomedia on 23 April 303. So the tradition says.

It seems that the cult to St. George became popular in the following centuries. But what about the dragon? The legend doesn't come up until the 11th century, spreading through Europe during the 12th century.

Yeah, that guy is nothing without me!

 

(By the way, do you see that hole on the dragon's neck? It's designed so the spear can go through it when the model is assembled. Seriously top notch design work!)

Once upon a time... It is said that a dragon built its nest on a natural spring nearby the town of Silene, Lybia, and that the people gave two sheep each day to the beast so they could get water. But at some point there were no sheep enough, so they started to give the dragon human sacrifices, on a raffle basis. The system worked until one day the King's daughter was chosen. Only then people seemed to have a problem with the whole thing (Hello?? No one is making any kind of social criticism here? Ahem. Never mind...). Long story short, George faces the dragon, kills it and the citizens of the town became Christians. Woohooo.

Well, there are way better sources for the story than this blog. Go make some research.

Going back to the model, I had this little frame at home, and I thought it was perfect for this occasion:

Come on, dragon, go home, you're drunk

Some DAS putty to make it more 3D

I had some doubts when it came to painting St. George. There are as many representations as artists, I'd dare to say, so I didn't feel bound by specific colours. I couldn't make his clothes white, as that was the colour of the horse. I thought of green, but it was all too green alongside the dragon.

Besides, I'm getting a Rohirrim vibe here

So this was my final take:

It took me some time to get to this solution

In the meantime, I moved forward with the base:

Barren desert. But the dragon's lair was supposed to be close to a spring

So some vegetation is required

I took my chances with the black edge on the base, I thought it would look better this way, instead of using the whole base as part of the vignette, with land and grass.

This is the final result:

St. George seems to be quite popular all over Europe, being the patron of many countries and regions, revered from East to West, from Russia to England, spanning Ukraine, Hungary, much of the Mediterranean.. and outside that, even Ethiopia! As I googled him to write this post, I discover that Muslims also consider George as a prophetic figure in Islamic sources. I'm happy to display someone who brings together so many different people. We have too few of those.