A Saint and a Holy Encounter
In the Middle-Ages, myths and legends regularly described encounters between dragons and Saints. Throughout the Golden Legend, Jean Voragine describes, numerous accounts of Saints driving out, exterminating, or even taming dragons (6). The legend of Saint Sylvester describes how Saint Sylvester is called upon by Constantine to cast out a dragon from a pagan community that claimed the adoption of christianity was prompting a dragon to terrorize their land (8). As a good pope, Sylvester comes to Constantine’s aid to defend christianity. He descends into the dragon’s lair and binds the dragon’s mouth, taming it so that it will no longer cause mayhem. In ascending the lair, Sylvester encounters two men who had followed him down to watch and seeing that had been poisoned by the lecherous breathe of the dragon he miraculously revives them, converting them and their whole community to the christian faith in doing so. Turning to the painting (figure 1) we can see different elements of the story depicted: the figure in a light, pink cloak with a bishop’s hat in a gold halo, presumably Saint Sylvester, looks down on a dragon, who is situated between Saint Sylvester and two men, one in a red cloak, the other pink. Under the dragon are the same two men lying down, supposedly poisoned as victims of the dragon. On the right side, Constantine is in a gold crown, flanked by two other figures.