Cartoon for St George and the Dragon

This preparatory drawing, known as a cartoon, uses pen and ink with pouncing holes along the outlines for transferring the design to a final painting. The composition centers on the dynamic diagonal of the horse and knight lunging toward the coiled beast on the ground. A small figure of a woman kneels in the distance, representing the princess saved by the saint's intervention.

In the Renaissance Neoplatonic tradition, the battle between the knight and the dragon was often interpreted as the rational soul’s triumph over material chaos and the lower animal passions. This motif would later become a central emblem in alchemical literature, representing the purification of the 'prima materia' through spiritual struggle.