Separated in date by some twenty years [85 & 86 Met catalogue], these two depic- tions of a favorite subject show Burne -Jones unwilling to abandon what he regarded as a good conception but renewing the image according to his stylistic development. Following the drawings and oils of 1865-67 for Birket Foster (cat. nos. 31-36), the figure of Saint George was pressed into service as one of three contributions to the huge commission for Morris stained glass (twenty- two figures in all) in the Hall at Peterhouse, Cambridge. Although his entry in the account book for September 1871 admits some haste over the cartoons— "Now I am off for Italy with the money I have so honourably earned" — Burne-Jones took time to give Saint George the calm dignity also accorded to Saint Hugh and Saint Peter, his lance serving as a vertical prop similar to the bishop's crosier. 1 The first oil paint- ing was begun in 1873 and largely repeats the stained-glass car- toon, though dispensing with the halo; on the saint’s shield, the princess is now shown in the nude, which emphasizes her vul- nerability while providing a frisson of excitement within an otherwise hieratically dispassionate image. It is essentially the same Saint George who had vanquished the dragon in the paint- ing of 1865, with not only the darkly burnished armor but also the overall coloring remaining largely unchanged, a misty blue- green landscape set off against the saint s swirling red scarf. What Burne-Jones now adds is a serene monumentality, underscor- ing the saint's role as a symbol of the steadfast Christian hero. He is, however, still virtually indistinguishable from the knight in Le Chant d 1 Amour (cat. no. 84), begun in 1868, and has features similar to those of one of the artist's favorite studio models. In 1887 Burne-Jones began the first of two later versions of the same image, one completed in 1892 and the second in 1898, the 1887 version was shown at the New Gallery in London as one of his last exhibited works. 2 Nearly every detail of the design has undergone a subtle transformation. Instead of a wistful tilt of the head, the saint now stares impassively ahead, more of a Christian icon (as the device on his banner also signifies) than a romantic hero. The image of the rescued princess on his shield — like everything else in the composition, it has been given a more elongated treatment — has reverted to a more decorous draped form. The dragon's coils and the saint's armor have both benefited from the artist's careful labors over the Perseus series. And the landscape, exuding an unusual dull fiery glow, has acquired the layers of basalt ro ck typ- ical of 1890s backgrounds and rather unexpectedly relieved by a bunch of irises in the foreground — a device harking back to Pan and Psyche (cat. no. 103). 3 1. Sewter 1974-75, vol. 2, p. 46. The cartoon for Saint George belongs to Peterhouse, Cambridge, along with that for Hugo de Balsham (Saint Hugh); both are reproduced in Fitzwilham Museum 1980, nos. 77, 78. 2. T. M. Rooke s studio diary notes that Burne-Jones was "finishing tall St. George" on April 16, 1897 (Lago 1981, p. 141). Schleinitz 1901, p. 12, reproduces a photograph of the painting before completion. 3. There are slight differences of detail between the two canvases: the first, 82 1/2 x 26 in. (210 x 66 cm), signed and dated 1892 and acquired by George Howard (by then the Earl of Carlisle), has a less rocky back- ground; the saint is wearing his helmet, and the banner is richly embroidered. This picture (whereabouts unknown) was shown at the New Gallery in 1898-99 (no. 92).
From the photographic evidence in Schleintiz, Burne-Jones added an iris in the painting's later stages. Floral Emblems - Henry Phillips - Iris means a message. Such was Burne-Jones' international reputation in the 1890s, though declining in England, the Grand Duke Hesse deemed it important to include a painting by Burne-Jones in his Jugund Stil interior.