Legendary Dragons

One of 5 original predella panels on the life of Saint Sylvester, the panel at the Philadelphia Museum of Art depicts a scene in which Sylvester binds the mouth of a dragon to move spectators to christian conversion (8). Painted in Florence around 1380-1390 AD, it was originally was part of an altarpiece predella. Not much is known about the actual Saint Sylvester and what one can glean through his legend seems to be quite embellished. His significance to be included in the Golden Legend stems from his papacy of the christian church during the pivotal conversion of Constantine, leading to the legalization of Christianity throughout the Roman Empire in 313 BC (5). His encounter with the dragon, towards the end of the story, demonstrates the climax of his sainthood as a more symbolic confrontation of christianity’s triumph over the evil of the devil, as dragons were strong symbols of the devil and a physical manifestation of evil in medieval culture.