File:Theodore muqarna Parlermo.jpg

Muqarna in the Capella Palatina in Palermo, Sicily. Horseman slaying a dragon, likely a depiction of St. Theodore Tiro.

"a horseman fighting a dragon, the Muslim artist responsible went much further in assimilating the Christian image of the dragon-slayer into his repertoire. The scene occupies one of the large panels in the muqarnas and is located to the right of the throne platform in the west end. None of the details which were transferred from the icon of St. Theodore to the other three scenes - the saint's physiognomy, his short military cloak, his spear impaling the dragon's neck - reappear in this image. Still more significantly, here is the narrative that predominates over the symbolic and, rather than symbolising the triumph of good over evil, this scene represents a combat very much in progress. While the icon and the paintings that it inspired emphasise the distance and superiority of the saint, high on his horse over the dragon lying dead on the ground by interposing the long shaft of the spear, here the artist has raised the two combatants to the same level, placing them eyeball-to-eyeball. They are equally matched foes, both in the act of attacking, neither yet victorious. The uncertainty of the outcome strengthens the narrative charge of the scene by adding an element of suspense, and thereby dilutes its symbolic significance." Jeremy Johns, "Muslim Artists, Christian Patrons and the Painted Ceilings of the Cappella Palatina (Palermo, Sicily, circa 1143 CE)" (2012)