Saint Margaret of Antioch by Francisco de Zurbarán

Saint Margaret of Antioch by Francisco de Zurbarán

A shepherdess with a dragon

Margaret stands in profile, dressed as an Andalusian shepherdess: straw hat, bright red skirt, a bag over her arm and a crook in her hand. Only when you look down do you see the dragon, lying at her feet with its jaws open. According to legend, Satan swallowed her in the form of a dragon, and she escaped by making the sign of the cross, which split the beast open.

Patron of mothers

Because she emerged unharmed from the dragon’s belly, Margaret became the patron saint of women in childbirth, and she was one of the most popular saints of the late Middle Ages — one of the voices Joan of Arc said she heard.

The rustic ideal

Zurbarán gives her a real peasant costume, painted with loving attention to every texture: straw, wool, leather, embroidery. The effect is both holy and entirely human, like a young woman seen on a road outside Seville.

Where it hangs

The canvas is in the National Gallery in London and measures 194 by 112 centimetres.

About this print

Made from a 4,226-pixel photograph of the original, enough to print sharply at up to about 28 inches on its longest side.

Sources: National Gallery, London · Wikidata Q3464529 · Wikimedia Commons