"The next painting on this tour will be the Fight of St. George and the Dragon, which in Spanish is La lucha de San Jorge y el Dragón. First starting by the context of it, the painting was created by Peter Paul Rubens between 1606 and 1608 during his time in Italy. It belonged to his early period when he was strongly influenced by classical sculpture and some works by Renaissance masters. It was probably painted for Genoa, a city that considers Saint George its patron saint. The work is currently part of the collection of the Prado Museum in Madrid, which owns about 90 works by Rubens. This painting represents the famous medieval legend of Saint George, who saved a princess from being sacrificed to a dragon. Rubens shows Saint George dressed like a Roman general, riding a white horse and attacking the monster with his lance. The princess appears in the background holding a lamb, symbol of innocence and sacrifice. This scene is full of movement and drama, typical of the Baroque style, with strong diagonals, contrast of light and shadows, and expressive gestures. This work also shows the religious meaning of the legend: Saint George beating the dragon represents good winning over evil. Now we are going to talk about the author of this painting, Peter Paul Rubens, known in Spanish as Pedro Pablo Rubens. He was born in 1577 in Siegen, in the Holy Roman Empire, and he died in 1640 in Antwerp, in Spanish Netherlands. He was a Baroque painter from the Flemish school and he was one of the great European Baroque painters. When he was young, he traveled to Italy where he served the Duke of Mantua as court painter. Therefore, his main influences were the art from ancient Greece, ancient Rome and the Renaissance. Later he was ennobled by two kings, Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England. Among his most famous works are The Three Graces or Massacre of the Innocents. Rubens is known for his use of Flemish realism with the Italian Renaissance techniques to create his own style. Furthermore, this work exhibits important characteristics such as the use of strong diagonals to create movement, dramatic contrast of light and shadow, detailed realism in figures like the horse’s foam and the dragon’s eyes, and the influence of classical sculptures and Italian Renaissance painting. Considered a large format work, it’s painted in oil on canvas measuring 309 centimeters high by 257 centimeters wide. If we saw the painting, we can see Saint George triumphing over the forces of evil identified with the dragon here, through the merit of his faith. This undertaking also includes the presence of the princess who is identified with the Church or the people. In conclusion, this work represents the victory of God over evil and faith against evil. This is a famous episode which is a legend in which Saint George fights the dragon to defend the princess. Rubens, who was very Catholic, liked using these ideas in his art."