The Art of Dragons... where is it?

Cafe Society
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I like dragons. The problem is, for such an iconic creature, with so much symbolism in both East and West, there appear to be very few paintings or classic artworks that feature dragons.

Please note that I am intentionally excluding posters that feature Dungeons and Dragons-like artwork, with the dragon breathing fire, three moons in the sky, a sword-wielding barbarian and a female warrior wearing an armored bikini. No offense – I played D&D and have great affection for females wearing bikinis. But my apartment isn’t a dorm, and I’m looking for something a little more classy.

Kadnisky painted an interesting piece that shows Saint George killing a dragon, but I would prefer any dragons adorning my walls to be alive and well.

I can’t understand why there are so many mythological tales depicted in Renaissance paintings – “Hylas and the Nymphs,” “The Decision of Paris,” etc. – but hardly anything on that scale that features a dragon.

So – can anyone help? Is there a piece of fine artwork that shows a cool dragon that I could buy as a reprint or poster for under $50?

I, and the dragons, thank you.

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I found these with Artcyclopedia. You’re right, there’s a startling dearth of dragony pictures. However the one at the bottom of this list makes up for that for me. It might seem a tad childish though…

Jean de Bosschère, An immense dragon lying by the waterside

Aubrey Beardsley’s “Dragon Illustration”

The Dragon of Marduk (glazed brick)

Hokusai, Dragon Over mount Fuji

BY FAR MY FAVOURITE: Maxfield Parrish: The Reluctant Dragon (1900-01)

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Sorry, I meant the Artcyclopedia link to go to the site, but instead it goes to the Reluctant Dragon.

Here’s Artcyclopedia. I found those above by searching titles under “dragon” but I daresay things like “serpent” might turn up interesting stuff too.

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Where can I find a cheap poster of “The Reluctant Dragon”?

I’ve been searching, but no luck. :frowning:

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Twenty bucks alright? Mind you the colour looks pretty nasty.

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They all might not be precisely “classical” in style, (though many are quite well done)but I’ve found an abundance of dragons, and most are lacking metal bikinis too.

First there’s this site which focuses on Oriental dragons.

This site has dragons of all kinds, including St. George slaying the dragon. My favorites would be “Dragon Maiden” (no bikini there btw) and “Dragon Motiff” because it’s blue.

Dancing Dragon.com has dragon things of all kinds. A favorite from there is made by Amy Brown. “Moon Dragon” I love that piece.

On the topic of Amy Brown, you might check out what prints featuring dragons she has for sale from her own site. AmyBrownArt Here are a couple of other favorites of mine that she’s made. 'The Pest" it may be too cutesy for you, but that dragon’s exasperated, disgruntled expression (and the tip of his tail poised to flick the fae off) makes me chuckle every time. This one’s taken from her E-card links, the Holiday section. “Christmas Dragon”

The dragons here are pretty nice. There are a few maidens in there, but I like the one in the ocean by Roger Dean pretty well. (Though I don’t much like the mat around the dragon.) Here’s the front page of that site.

Here are some Michael Whelan prints. He’s done covers for Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series. (That’s what the white dragon is from, that is Ruth of Pern.)

Here are art.com’s pages on dragons and sea serpants. There’s several new ones there. There’s even one of a dragon laying siege to a castle. “Dragon Spawn” from page 3 on that site is pretty cool. So is “Equinox” but I think I like Bert Muller’s “Dragons” from that site.

Good luck, hope you find some dragons you like. :slight_smile:

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Thank you, I have a new wallpaper.

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Gah! I can’t believe I forgot Stephanie Pui-Mun Law! Shadowscapes Here is one of her dragons titled “Dragonknot II”. I also like Janet J. E. Chui’s work some of which is found here. I love “The moon is a Mask” and “The Quality of Mercy” (nice dragon one there) to name only a few. Check them out too. :slight_smile:

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I was browsing through the art.com site, and found “Dragon from the Grotto” in among a Fairy Book gallery. It’s got a nice Medieval feel to it, and the dragon is alive. I was searching to see if I could find posters of Hildebrandt’s illustrations from my Tolkein “Smith of Major Wootan/Farmer Giles of Ham” book I found a few years ago. The dragon in that book is FUNNY! It’s pen and ink illustrations, and after a quick search I believe this is the book. SMITH OF WOOTTON MAJOR & FARMER GILES OF HAM, 1975, Ballantine, red or white cover border with art by Hildebrandt brothers. My book has the white border on it.

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All right… I don’t want to be ungrateful and risk being pitted, but…

Many of the dragons suggested are unsatisfactory.

Hey – art is subjective, right?

I think “Moon Dragon” and Burt Muller’s “Dragons” are particularly in the wrong direction for home decor , while still being pretty cool. I mean, two dragons fighting in mid-air, with a huge moon in the background? Cool! Fine for computer wallpaper, but visitors to my house would laugh, or roll their eyes.

Again, I want to state before the grumbles start, that I am ** * pro-dragon! *** But, perhaps in futility, I am thinking of something more along the lines of Waterhouse (who painted “Hylas and the Nymphs”) or Bougereau (who painted “Nymphs and Satyr”), then something that looks like a poster, or a D&D manual cover. Oh yes, I also like nymphs.

And I get to put naked nymphs on my wall because a genuine artist painted them, and because they have mythological relevance.

Myles Pinkney and his lik have ruined everything, launching a movement of horrendous dragons and wizards. I think wizards are also neat and worthy of presentation in the home. But if you see a dragon and a wizard together, it’s almost certainly cheesy. And this is from someone who had a Pinkney on a wall in college and several years after.

Feel free to disagree with me. I’m sure you already do, because you suggested the images in question. But… do we have any others? Eastern dragons are certainly welcome, as are illustrations created for books.

Do we have any other candidates, or is everyone now afraid of my wrath? :slight_smile:

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My sister drew a very cool dragon for me once (inspired by those in Flight of Dragons, I believe). I could probably reproduce it in pen and ink or something.

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Her website seems to be down, but I have a really nice dragon print by Erin McKee call Rainforest Dragons. It has dragons in it, but it’s subtle enough to put in most rooms. She has others as well, but I think that was her best. I wish I could help you with a link, but like I said, her web site is down. I do know that she was at the Minnesota Renaissance Festival in 2000 and 2002 if that helps.

Maybe I’ll snap a quick picture of it tonight to see if it’s more what you are looking for.

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What about depictions of Perseus saving Andromeda from the sea-monster (or the similar scene in Ariosto’s Ruggiero and Angelica)? Granted, the monster isn’t exactly a dragon, but it’s kind of dragonish, and you get a helpless nude in chains, to boot. Some examples: Leighton, Ingres, Delacroix, Piero di Cosimo, and Titian.

There are always images of St. George fighting the dragon–by Burne-Jones, Uccello, Raphael, and Carpaccio. You may already be familiar with these.

And don’t forget William Blake’s The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun–though it’s not a very dragonish-looking dragon at all.

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P.S.: I’m afraid there aren’t many pro-dragon images in Western art–as a symbol of evil (etc.), the dragon’s usually getting his butt whipped by a knight or other puny human.

Asian dragons are more positive, but I don’t know enough about Asian art to tell you where to start looking. I’ll see if I can find anything, though.

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How about these Chinese papercut dragons?

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Skopo, I like the Leighton painting. It’s in the classical style, it has a very dragon-looking kraken (though I’ve always picture him/it as a giant gill-man, due to a viewing at a young age of Clash of the Titans), and the dragon hasn’t been attacked yet. You don’t know who’s going to win. Hell, half the time in these battles, I’m rooting for the dragon.

Helena, the Chinese paper-cut dragons are pretty nice, too. Do you know of any others – don’t forget, the Japanese and Koreans have similar dragons. If I recall, the main difference between their dragons is the number of toes. I think (and I await correction) that Chinese dragons have three toes, Japanese have four, and Korean have two. Koreans believe the dragons lost a toe travelling to Korea; the Japanese think dragons gained a toe in their journey to Japan.

I understand the point that there aren’t many pro-dragon images because in Western tradition, dragons are evil scourges awaiting death meted out by a brave hero. Still, weren’t there Medieval and Renaissance bestiaries? “Unbiased” illustrations, woodcuts, paintings of dragons? Perhaps architectural work, like a frieze, as there are for gargoyles? A photo of such a cathedral or castle adornment wouldn’t be bad.

Thanks for the help. Assuming I’m not the only one looking for “upscale” dragon artwork, let’s continue the search.

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Well, as I have several Achilleos prints in my house, and one in my office - I respectfully disagree. :slight_smile:

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I like Sulamith Wülfing’s “The Big Friend,” as used on the cover of Pete Sinfield’s Still LP. I don’t know if it’s available as an art print, but I have a set of notecards with this painting on the front.

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Look at the last dragon I posted. You might find yourself pleasantly suprised if you haven’t seen it yet. It depicts a dragon which seems to be in the middle of a conversation with a fellow in Medieval faire type garb and his little dog. I also linked Oriental dragons more than once. (Dragon Motif comes to mind, it’s like the Chinese paper cut dragons, but is a blue print on paper.) Stephanie Pui-Mun Law’s dragons may fit your bill. I took pains to dig up dragons from many spectrums.

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Ah, bestiaries! Maybe something like this (click on image)? http://prodigi.bl.uk/illcat/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=1354&MSID=8798

A Google search for “illuminated manuscripts” and “dragon” or “dragons” pulls up some other hits–several marginal illustrations of dragons (few as elaborate as the British Library one in the above link)

Another artistic subject that includes a dragon is Cadmus–for instance, Two Followers of Cadmus devoured by a Dragon by Cornelius van Haarlem.

There are also images of St. Margaret being devoured by a dragon (or the later scene of her emerging from his belly):

http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/m/master/xunk_bo/margaret.html