Since before the birth of Christ, literary representations of dragons have made their way from poems, mythical tales and religious writings and have been translated into two and three dimensional forms within the disciplines of art and architecture. And whether these creatures are believed to have dwelt on land or at sea, over time, their general appearance has evolved, without detracting from their ferocity.
Images:
Anonymous Italian/Tuscan, A Lion Confronting a Dragon, 1500-1510, pencil and brown ink, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Brooke Russell Astor Bequest, 2013. Public Domain.
Anonymous, Mosaic from the House of the Dragon, 4 B.C., polychrome mosaic, Archaeological Museum of Monasterace, Calabria. Italian Ways.com.
Anonymous, A Dacian Draco of Trajan’s Column, around 113 A.D., Carrara marble, Rome. Wikimedia Commons.
Romanesque Painter, Flight of the Dragon, c. 1090, fresco, San Pietro al Monte, Civate. Web Gallery of Art.
Paolo Uccello, Saint George and the Dragon, c.1470. oil on canvas, The National Gallery, London. Wikimedia Commons.
Raphael Santi, Saint Margaret and the Dragon, c.1518, oil on panel, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. Wikimedia Commons.
Pirro Ligorio, Dragon Fighting a Lion and a Wolf, 1547, Parco di Mostri, Bomarzo. Wikimedia Commons.
Anonymous, A Dragon of the Boncompagni Family, 16th Century, Basilica of Santa Croce, Lecce. Wikimedia Commons.
Anonymous, Sea Dragon, 17th Century, wood with brass gilding, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889. Public Domain.
Fabio Pallanti, Various Dragon Sculptures, 21st century, metal. The Maremma Guide.com.