Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood

St. George and the Princess Sabra

St. George and the Princess Sabra was painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1862.  His wife, Lizzie Siddal, died while modeling as Princess Sabra.  I find myself searching her face, as if it were a photograph, looking for signs of what was to occur days later:  her overdose of laudanum. 

The Model:

Lizzie’s story is a sad one.  One day she was nothing but a milliner’s assistant.  Then suddenly she is discovered and begins modeling for artists in the Pre-Raphaelite circle, captured forever on canvas.  With a talent for painting and poetry herself, she falls under Rossetti’s tutelage and even procures the great John Ruskin as a patron.   But Lizzie was often ill, as well as being  addicted to Laudanum.  She married Rossetti in 1860 and shortly after they suffered the tragedy of a stillborn child.  Their daughter had died in Lizzie’s womb weeks before she was delivered.

In 1862 Lizzie was pregnant again.  Still addicted to Laudanum, she overdosed and died on February 11, 1862.  Rossetti summoned doctor after doctor to try and save her, but to no avail.   In his famous gesture of grief, Rossetti buried his only manuscript of poems with Lizzie in her coffin.  Years later, he would have her grave in Highgate Cemetery exhumed in order to publish the poems. (LizzieSiddal.com: photos of Lizzie’s grave, Lizzie’s inquest. timeline of Lizzie’s life)

The Subject Matter:

The story of St. George was not a new subject for Rossetti. He designed a set of stained glass windows to be created by the Morris firm.   Previously, in 1857, he had painted The Wedding of St. George:

Here we can see the triumphant St. George embracing Princess Sabra, both of them seemingly oblivious to the dead dragon.  I can tell you that if I were Princess Sabra, I would not be capable of such stoicism!  I am of the opinion that dead dragons are probably quite smelly.

The story of St. George was a legend handed down from  the Crusaders and  was printed in 1483 by Caxton in a book called The Golden Legend.   St. George happened upon a town with a horrible dragon.  The townspeople had been feeding the dragon sheep in order to keep it at bay.  In another version of the myth, they fed the dragon their children who were chosen according to a lottery.  They also gave the dragon young virgins.

But, if you ask me, I would assume that all young women would taste the same to the dragon whether they were virginal or not.

St. George attacks and slays the dragon, saving the city.  He is rewarded with Princess Sabra’s hand in marriage.

Links:

St. George and the Princess Sabra at The Rossetti Archive

St. George, England’s Patron Saint at Brittania.com

Catholic Encyclopedia:  St. George

Burne-Jones also illustrated the story of St. George

The Tate Collection:  Rossetti’s St. George and the Princess Sabra

Gorgeous images, Stephanie! I haven’t seen these in such vivid colors before!

The tongue hanging out of the dragon’s mouth has always struck me as humorous, although I’m sure Rossetti didn’t intend it to be. It just looks so much like my dog when he sleeps on his back.

Thank you so much for posting this, Stephanie. I don’t think I’m very familiar with this piece (the 1857 one, yes, I know that one quite well & for a long time I felt that it was really Lizzie’s work, not Gabriel’s — & perhaps it was, at least in part –certainly looks to me like hers), and I had no idea that it (this 1862 watercolor)was created just before Lizzie’s fatal OD.
Very, very haunting, indeed.

….but then, if I had been paying attention & noticed the 1862 date, I would have (hopfully) figured it out…