Balcony panel from the Palazzo Pola

myminifactory

This panel originates from Palazzo Pola in Treviso, a rare surviving element from a domestic balcony. A part of the front facade, this magnificent balcony would have served as a gathering point for people inside the building and a showcase of status to the outside world. The panel depicts the legend of Saint George and the Dragon. The narrative describes how the saint tamed and killed a dragon that demanded human sacrifices; in doing so, he rescued the princess who was chosen as the next offering. According to the earliest sources from the 11th and 12th centuries, the story is set in Cappadocia, but it was later transferred to Libya in the 13th-century Golden Legend. The narrative has pre-Christian origins (such as Jason and Medea, Perseus and Andromeda, Typhon, etc.), and it was recorded in various saints' lives before being attributed specifically to Saint George. It was particularly associated with Saint Theodore during the 9th and 10th centuries and was first linked to Saint George in the 11th century. The earliest written record of Saint George slaying a dragon is found in a Georgian text from the 11th century. The legend and iconography spread rapidly throughout the Byzantine cultural sphere in the 12th century, reaching Western Christian tradition still in that same century via the Crusades. The Knights of the First Crusade believed that St George had fought alongside them at Antioch and Jerusalem, along with fellow soldier-saints Demetrius, Maurice, and Theodore. The legend gained popularity in Western tradition in the 13th century based on its Latin versions in the Speculum Historiale and the Golden Legend. Initially limited to courtly settings of Chivalric romance, the legend became a favorite literary and pictorial subject in the Late Middle Ages and Renaissance, becoming an integral part of Christian traditions relating to Saint George in both Eastern and Western traditions. The palace, built around 1490, was attributed to Pietro Lombardo (Paoletti, 1893, II, p.229). Pietro's workshop was active in Treviso from 1486 and executed numerous sculptural and architectural projects, including the monument to Bishop Zanetti in the Cathedral and the tomb of Agostino Onigo in San Nicolo. The palace balconies exhibit a strong stylistic affinity with these Trevisian works; however, Boucher points out that elaborately carved altar railings in Santa Maria dei Miracoli in Venice, designed by Pietro and constructed between 1481 and 1489, were the most obvious influence on the design of the balcony panels, which he attributes to Pietro's workshop. Carved balconies have survived most frequently in churches in Venice, like the galleries of St Mark's; a splendid secular example still exists in situ on the facade of the Palazzo Containing-Fasan, also datable to the last quarter of the fifteenth century. Pietro Lombardo, born Carona (about 1435; died Venice, June 1515), was a leading sculptor and architect of Venice in the late 15th century, known for his significant contributions to the Renaissance in that city. He was the father of Tullio and Antonio, both respected sculptors of the time. Pietro supervised the building of the Cappella Maggiore and its cupola for Treviso Cathedral, begun by 1485 or 1486. When the dome collapsed in 1486, Pietro promised to entrust its rebuilding to a capable architect; in an agreement of 1488, his son Tullio was identified as that architect. Pietro's other architectural commissions included major Venetian buildings: S Maria dei Miracoli and the Scuola Grande di S Marco. In his later years, Pietro seems to have been active mainly in conjunction with his sons on projects where they were the principals. He helped supervise the construction of the chapel of the Holy Sacrament, designed by Antonio, in Treviso Cathedral, and that by Tullio at S Salvatore in Venice; he played a more limited role in Antonio's work on the Zen Chapel in S Marco. In 1514, Pietro served as the head of the stonemasons' guild in Venice, an indication of his pre-eminent position in Venetian architecture even in his last years.