he Heptanese School (School of the Seven Islands, also known as the Ionian Islands school, succeeded the Cretan School after the fall of Crete to the Ottomans in 1669. Like the Cretan school, it combined Byzantine traditions with an increasing Western European artistic influence. Quite a few of its painters, among them Theodore Poulakis, Elias Moskos and Emmanuel Tzanes. achieved great fame.

Ionian School painters were influenced by Flemish, French, Italian and German engravings of the Mannerist and Baroque periods. We see this clearly in the icon in the refinement and elegance with which both horse and rider a treated, particularly in the ornamental details. And yet the icon retains the abstract Byzantine drama of the spiritual warrior. George’s attention is engaged with the higher world and prayer; he and his horse, and below them the dragon, exist purely as presences, transcending narrative.