Showing posts with label Zmiyevna. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zmiyevna. Show all posts

The Serpent Princess (Zmiyevna). 1906

This is an illustration of the plot from Golubinaya kniga (Russian religious verses) of Yegoriy, Princess and the Dragon. Heartless tsar decides to sacrifice his daughter to the dragon as she converted to Christianity. She is saved by Yegoriy the Brave sent by God. In exchange for life and peace of the kingdom princess Oleksafiya demands the father to take the Christian faith and to build three churches: in the name of the Mother of God, the Holy Trinity and the Yegoriy the Brave (St. George). Roerich has depicted the most dramatic moment: in the sinister twilight the dragon entwines the princess, but the heavenly messenger had already raised his sword.