Saint George and the Dragon

Saint George charges in from the right and drives his lance through the dragon's eye, while the princess at left holds the beast on a leash made from her own girdle - the moment in the Golden Legend when, subdued, it follows her meekly toward the city. Uccello's delight in pattern governs everything: the spiral storm cloud winding up behind the saint, the dragon's neatly ringed wings, the squared field shrinking beneath the horse's hooves. Half geometry lesson, half fairy tale, it shows the same perspective-struck mind as his nocturnal Hunt elsewhere in this collection, here turned to enamel-bright fantasy.