Five Beautiful Dragons From Getty's Collection

And get into the lore with Getty medievalist Larisa Grollemond

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Art & Architecture

An illumination of a man with a staff, kneeling woman, and a child. At their feet lies a green dragon with its tongue hanging out. The man and the woman have halos. So does a dove that flies overhead — A Bearded Saint with Cruciform Staff Presenting a Kneeling Woman to Saint Margaret, after 1460, Flemish. Tempera colors, gold leaf, and ink, 6 3/4 × 4 13/16 in. Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig IX 9 (83.ML.105), fol. 13v

Apr 6, 2023

Thanks to their typecasting as villains in fairy tales, dragons are visually linked to the Middle Ages.

Dragons appear in a lot of medieval art from around the world, and they have a long and varied visual history.

The bestiary, a sort of European encyclopedia of animals, describes the dragon as the greatest of earth’s serpents, with a powerful tail and the ability to make the air shimmer as it flies.

A knight on horseback attacks a yellow dragon. In the foreground is a damsel in distress; in the background there's a castle. The border is richly decorated with green, blue, and yellow leaves — *Saint George and the Dragon*, about 1450-1455, Master of Guillebert de Mets. Tempera colors, gold leaf, and ink, 7 5/8 × 5 1/2 in. Getty Museum, Ms. 2 (84.ML.67), fol. 18v

An illuminated manuscript featuring a woman with a halo sitting atop a green dragon. Both are inside a pergola with a decorated floor — *Saint Margaret*, early 1460s, Willem Vrelant. Tempera colors, gold leaf, and ink, 10 1/16 × 6 13/16 in. Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig IX 8 (83.ML.104), fol. 57

As a symbol of the devil in the Christian tradition, dragons often feature in the stories of saints.

St. Margaret was supposedly swallowed by Satan in the guise of a dragon, from whom she miraculously emerged. In the image above, you can see the edge of her red cloak sticking out of the dragon's mouth.

An illuminated manuscript featuring a drawing of a winged creature. It has multi-colored wings, thick orange and green striped legs, and a long blue neck that loops back around to its long blue tail — *An Asp*, about 1270, Franco-Flemish. Tempera colors, gold leaf, and ink, 7 1/2 × 5 5/8 in. Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig XV 3 (83.MR.173), fol. 92v

An illuminated manuscript featuring a dragon-like creature with bird wings, a long, curly tail, and a long, thin snout. It faces a stylized tree with two birds sitting beneath it — *A Peridexion Tree*, about 1270, Franco-Flemish. Tempera colors, gold leaf, and ink, 7 1/2 × 5 5/8 in. Getty Museum, Ms. Ludwig XV 3 (83.MR.173), fol. 98

Dragons offered medieval artists lots of opportunity for creativity. Some are winged and scaly, others are multicolored, or have curly tails.

Many fearsome serpent-like dragons also appear in adventure epics of Persian literature from Iran and India.

And in East Asia, the dragon was associated with imperial power, and is an auspicious symbol of strength and luck—as in this example, the Eleven Dragons handscroll dated to the Chinese Ming Dynasty.

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