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| Maso di Banco, 'The Miracle of the Dragon (Fresco in the Capella di Bardi di Vernio, Santa Croce, Florence, c. 1335) |
Two men were killed at the Roman Forum by the breath of a dragon, here read as the symbol of religious ignorance. Sylvester closed the dragon's throat so it would cause no further harm and he then revived the victims, much to the amazement of onlookers. In the fresco, the Roman Forum is rendered not as it looked in the fourth century when the scene occurred, but in its ruinous state of the 14th century when Maso painted it. The unoccupied buildings in the background, the dilapidated, cracked walls in which grass is growing and the marble rubble in front of the dragon's cave give visual expression to the decline of the ancient world. The fragment of a pier arcade and the one standing column nevertheless serve to remind us of the greatness and beauty of its architecture.
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| Agnolo Gaddi (Agnolo di Taddeo Gaddi), 'Saint Sylvester and the Dragon' (c. 1380-1385) |
Pope Sylvester I (died 335) binds the mouth of a dragon, sealing off its poisonous breath, and revives the two victims who lie in the foreground. The crowned observer on the right is the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great (ruled 306–337), who, according to legend, had been cured of leprosy by Sylvester.
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