| In Western European Christian art of the Middle Ages there are a large number of thematic images relating to dragons.By combing through relevant thematic images such as ’The Apocalypse’,’The Dragon and Michael’,’The Dragon and St.George’ and’The Dragon and St.Margaret’,the thesis uses stylistic and iconographic methods to sort out the development of the image of the medieval Christian dragon in images and to analyse the dual iconographic and narrative influences on the changing image of the dragon.The analysis leads to the following conclusions: First,the image of the dragon is a direct inheritor of the serpentine dragon of classical art,which took shape in the late Middle Ages after a process of development from a snake-like form without feet to a form with two or four feet and wings on its back by incorporating a variety of imaginary and realistic animal elements.Secondly,the dragon is a symbol of the hostile power,lust and irresistible natural and social force of Christianity.Thirdly,the emergence and development of the dragon image in medieval Christian art in Western Europe is the result of the interaction of classical,Christian and barbarian culture,expressed not only in images but also in literary narratives.The study of the development of the dragon image in the Christian art of Western Europe makes it possible to see,from an iconographic point of view,the way in which the three cultural foundations that formed the basis of Western civilisation constantly overlapped and influenced each other,and how they manifested themselves. |
