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Francesco Fanelli, 1577–after 1641, Italian, active in Britain (from ca. 1632), St. George and the Dragon, ca. 1635
- Title:
- St. George and the Dragon
- Date:
- ca. 1635
- Materials & Techniques:
- Bronze, on a later wooden base with tortoiseshell veneer and gilt bronze mounts
- Dimensions:
- Overall: 11 1/2 × 11 1/2 × 8 inches (29.2 × 29.2 × 20.3 cm)
- Credit Line:
- Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Fund, in honor of Brian Allen, Director of Studies, Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art (1993-2012)
- Copyright Status:
- Public Domain
- Accession Number:
- B2012.4
- Classification:
- Sculptures
- Collection:
- Paintings and Sculpture
- Subject Terms:
- dragon | religious and mythological subject | spear | St. George and the dragon
- Associated People:
- Saint George (c. 275/281–303)
- Access:
- On view
- Link:
- https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:66008
- Export:
- XML
- IIIF Manifest:
- JSON
Fanelli was a Florentine sculptor who worked in England, receiving a salary from King Charles I at a time when British taste had shifted decisively toward Italian art. The patron saint of England, St. George has long held significance for the royal family, who associated themselves with the bravery of the man who slayed a dragon. A version of this bronze was displayed in the king’s cabinet room at his palace at Whitehall in London, a potent symbol of the monarch as both the country’s worthiest knight and its leading art patron. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2025
In the early seventeenth century, the Italian taste for tabletop bronzes reached England, where they were collected avidly by connoisseurs at the English court. When the Florentine sculptor Francesco Fanelli came to London in the early 1630s, King Charles I gave him a pension and began collecting his small mythological bronzes. A version of this group was displayed in the king’s most treasured space, the Cabinet Room at Whitehall Palace. Gallery label for A Decade of Gifts and Acquisitions (Yale Center for British Art, 2017-06-01 - 2017-08-13)
In the early seventeenth century, the Italian taste for tabletop bronzes reached England, where they were collected avidly by connoisseurs at the English court. When the Florentine sculptor Francesco Fanelli came to London in the early 1630s, King Charles I gave him a pension and began collecting his small mythological bronzes. A version of this group was displayed in the king’s most treasured space, the Cabinet Room at Whitehall Palace. Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016
In a New Light: 500 Years of British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2025-04-01 - 2026-01-30) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]
John Pope-Hennessy, Some Bronze Statuettes by Francesco Fanelli, Burlington Magazine, vol. 95, May 1953, pp. 158-159, 161, fig. 12, N1 +B87 Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]
Sotheby's sale catalogue : Old Master Sculpture & Works of Art : 8 July 2011, Sotheby's, London, 2011, pp. 48-49, Lot 58, Auction Catalogues (YCBA) [YCBA]
Ben van Beneden, Royalist Refugees : William and Margaret Cavendish in the Rubens House, 1648-1660, Rubenshuis & Rubenianum, Antwerp, 2006, pp. 198-199, DA407 N5 R693 2006 (YCBA) [YCBA]
Vertue's Note Book A.x., Walpole Society, vol. 24, 1936, p. 110, N12 W35 +A1 (YCBA) [YCBA]
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