The British painter George Dawe was born in 1781 into a family of an engraver and painter in the heart of London. He learnt engraving from his father at first, then he became interested in painting and continued his education in the Royal Academy of Arts. He quickly made a splendid career and earned a patronage from the Duke of Kent. In 1819, they traveled across Europe, during which Dawe met Alexander I. The emperor appreciated Dawe’s paintings a lot and commissioned him to paint Russian military commanders who fought Napoleon I.
Dawe lived in Saint Petersburg since 1819, where he worked together with Russian artists on decoration of the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace. In a decade of work, he painted 329 portraits of generals who participated in Patriotic War and War of the Sixth Coalition in 1813-1814, including monumental portraits of warlords Michael Barclay de Tolly and Mikhail Kutuzov as well as four portraits of veteran soldiers. Alexander I died in 1825 and did not live to see the completion of the gallery he thought up: it officially opened a year after, but the work on it continued for several more years.
On a portrait painted about late 1810s to early 1820s, Alexander I poses for Dawe on a background of Tsarskoye Selo, dressed in a uniform of cavalry general that is “worn off duty”: the black coat with the general’s epaulettes, the black wellingtons and a cap. The smiling emperor is depicted as a triumphant in battle against Napoleon. His posture is open: he is shifted back on his left heel, hands down along the body, elbows slightly bent. He holds a glove in left hand and lorgnette, a folding glasses in a setting with a handle, in right hand.
Alexander I is depicted on a background of romantic scenery, where real buildings are placed in fictional space. The ramp of Cameron Gallery is behind him on a level of his legs and the Chesme Column, which is in Catherine Park of Tsarskoye Selo. The sky with volatile clouds ranging from purple to yellow ochre. The looming storm clouds remind of Patriotic War.
Dawe lived in Saint Petersburg since 1819, where he worked together with Russian artists on decoration of the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace. In a decade of work, he painted 329 portraits of generals who participated in Patriotic War and War of the Sixth Coalition in 1813-1814, including monumental portraits of warlords Michael Barclay de Tolly and Mikhail Kutuzov as well as four portraits of veteran soldiers. Alexander I died in 1825 and did not live to see the completion of the gallery he thought up: it officially opened a year after, but the work on it continued for several more years.
On a portrait painted about late 1810s to early 1820s, Alexander I poses for Dawe on a background of Tsarskoye Selo, dressed in a uniform of cavalry general that is “worn off duty”: the black coat with the general’s epaulettes, the black wellingtons and a cap. The smiling emperor is depicted as a triumphant in battle against Napoleon. His posture is open: he is shifted back on his left heel, hands down along the body, elbows slightly bent. He holds a glove in left hand and lorgnette, a folding glasses in a setting with a handle, in right hand.
Alexander I is depicted on a background of romantic scenery, where real buildings are placed in fictional space. The ramp of Cameron Gallery is behind him on a level of his legs and the Chesme Column, which is in Catherine Park of Tsarskoye Selo. The sky with volatile clouds ranging from purple to yellow ochre. The looming storm clouds remind of Patriotic War.
