Ànima. Special St Georges’s Day 2012

The cultural program of Catalan Television “Ànima” makes a special broadcast live on St. George’s Day 2012. One of the guests is the biologist and reporter Pere Renom to talk about dragons. The most famous Gothic altarpiece of the catalan painter Bernat Martorell is a Saint George now part of the permanent collection at The Art Institute of Chicago. Further than representing the princess, knight and dragon, Martorell also joined three small geckos at the feet of the princess. Probably the painter did a pictorial and words play that only works in the Catalan language between “drac” (dragon) and “dragó” (gecko). This is not only a terminological similarity but zoological. In most depictions of St George the dragon shows many reptilian traits, and this is especially evident when viewed in detail a common iguana. While indeed the living animal more likely to resemble a legendary dragon is a fish related to seahorses originating in Australia, the seadragon.