Artwork story
About Saint George on Horseback
The artist and artwork
Hans Burgkmair made Saint George on Horseback, dated by The Met to 1508/1518, as a chiaroscuro woodcut in two blocks. A dark line block defines the contours and dense hatching; a second block lays a muted olive-gray tone over the sheet, while unprinted paper supplies highlights. Burgkmair, born and based in Augsburg, helped pioneer this new way of printing light and shadow. He gives the legendary warrior saint the intricately articulated armor, crested helmet, sword, and magnificently equipped horse of an early-sixteenth-century courtly champion.
The world around it
Burgkmair worked as European printmaking expanded in ambition and reach. After training with his painter father and Martin Schongauer, he designed woodcuts for Augsburg printer Erhard Ratdolt, opened his own workshop in 1498, and later worked for patrons including Emperor Maximilian I. Chiaroscuro printing was then a fresh experiment: Burgkmair and Lucas Cranach pioneered it beginning around 1507, using tone blocks to make a printed image resemble a drawing heightened on colored paper. The familiar Saint George story, popularized in the medieval Golden Legend, made Christian courage and rescue legible to a broad audience accustomed to saints, chivalry, and spectacular armor.
A detail to notice
The battle is already over. The small dragon lies pinned beneath the horse's hooves, its open jaw beside a broken lance, while sheep crowd nervously around it. At lower right, the rescued princess kneels with folded hands; a tiny dog stands at the edge of her gown. George does not strike a theatrical blow. He sits upright and looks down, turning victory into a formal procession. The Latin inscription above calls him the champion of Christian soldiers, and crosses repeat on the horse's trappings. At the bottom, Burgkmair's name faces that of Jost de Negker, the expert woodcutter associated with Burgkmair's most innovative prints.
Look closer: materials, scale, and subjects
The recorded object is print made in Chiaroscuro woodcut in two blocks and held in the Drawings and Prints department.
Recorded dimensions include sheet: 12 13/16 x 9 1/8 in. (32.5 x 23.1 cm).
Subject terms include Human Figures, Armor, Swords, Princesses, Dragons, and Horses. Treat them as guideposts, not a complete interpretation.
Collection history and public-domain source
The collection credit line is Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1931.
The individual artwork page and official image were verified as Public Domain on 2026-08-23.
No Context Gallery independently uses the public-domain image. The source museum has not endorsed, sponsored, or affiliated itself with these products.
Research sources
See the products currently available with this artwork. Product choices appear only when the exact item is published, in stock, and available to purchase.
