Saint Michael and the Dragon
Artist: Benjamin West (American, 1738-1820)
Date: 1797
Dimensions:
H: 50 1/2 in. (128.3 cm); W: 23 9/16 in. (59.8 cm)
Medium: Oil on canvas
Classification: Paintings
Credit Line: Museum Purchase
Object number: 1959.33
Label Text:This canvas and the painting of St. Thomas à Becket to the right are designs for stained glass windows commissioned in 1797 by William Beckford (1760–1844) for Fonthill Abbey, his sprawling neo-Gothic house in Wiltshire, England. The St. Michael and the Dragon design was never made as a window, however.
In a diary entry of September 29, 1787—his 21st birthday and the Feast of St. Michael—Beckford, who had been socially ostracized after two love affairs with men, hinted why he may have been drawn to the subject of the Archangel Michael’s battle with the dragon (the Devil):
Mass was performed in my chapel this morning in honour of the valiant St. Michael. I assisted with apparent devotion, but could not help feeling all the while more sympathy for the old Dragon than becomes a pious Catholic. Alas, we are both fallen angels! Six years ago how triumphantly did I pass this festival at Fonthill, seated at the foot of my father’s statue, receiving the congratulations of the first personages in my nation, universally esteemed….
In a diary entry of September 29, 1787—his 21st birthday and the Feast of St. Michael—Beckford, who had been socially ostracized after two love affairs with men, hinted why he may have been drawn to the subject of the Archangel Michael’s battle with the dragon (the Devil):
Mass was performed in my chapel this morning in honour of the valiant St. Michael. I assisted with apparent devotion, but could not help feeling all the while more sympathy for the old Dragon than becomes a pious Catholic. Alas, we are both fallen angels! Six years ago how triumphantly did I pass this festival at Fonthill, seated at the foot of my father’s statue, receiving the congratulations of the first personages in my nation, universally esteemed….
Not on view
In Collection(s)