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George Dawe
19th century portrait painted in St Petersburg in 1819
1819

Price:$68,850.72

$220,322.30List Price

About the Item

Signed, inscribed and dated, lower right: 'Geo Dawe RA St Petersburgh 1819', also signed with initials, lower centre: 'G D RA'; and signed and inscribed verso: 'Geo Dawe RA Pinxit 1819 St Petersburgh'; Also inscribed on the stretcher by Cornelius Varley with varnishing instructions. Collections: Private collection, UK, 2010 Literature: Galina Andreeva Geniuses of War, Weal and Beauty: George Dawe RA, Moscow, 2012, illustrated p.122. This remarkably vivacious portrait was executed very soon after Dawe’s arrival in St Petersburg where he was to fulfil a commission from Alexander I, Emperor of Russia, to paint the heroes of the 1812 campaign. This commission was to occupy Dawe for the rest of his career and resulted in a gallery of over three hundred portraits for the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace (Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg). This, as yet, unidentified portrait, appears to have returned home with Dawe at the end of stay in Russia and may well be a record of an early friendship made in St Petersburg’s artistic or literary circles. Dawe is now the least celebrated of the major late Georgian portrait painters in spite of being compared in his lifetime with both Thomas Lawrence and Jacques-Louis David. Undoubtedly, his removal from London at a vital period of his career left the field entirely clear for Lawrence, whose only clear rival he was. Dawe certainly made a rapid impression in Russia with Pushkin dedicating the following verse to him: 'Why does your wondrous pencil strive My Moorish profile to elicit? Your art will help it to survive, But Mephistopheles will hiss it. Draw Miss Olenin's face. To serve His blazing inspiration's duty, The genius should spend his verve On homage but to youth and beauty.' George Dawe was the son of Philip Dawe a well-known engraver, and named after his godfather, the painter, George Morland. His younger siblings, Henry, James and Mary all followed artistic careers. George trained as an engraver and in 1794 entered the Royal Academy Schools and in 1803 received the gold medal for Achilles, Frantic for the Loss of Patroclus, Rejecting the Consolation of Thetis (Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington), which was regarded by contemporaries as ‘the best ever offered to the Academy on a similar occasion’. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1804 and the rise of this talented painter through the hierarchy was rapid, being elected an Associate in 1809 and an Academician in 1814. Dawe continued to exhibit portraits but mostly subject pictures up until his the time of his elevation at the Academy and thereafter showed only portraits having secured his reputation as a painter. Dawe established a respectable practise as a portrait painter from about 1806 and in 1809 exhibited his full-length portrait of Mrs White, one of the most remarkable portraits of the period. By 1811 he was receiving the patronage of the banker, Thomas Hope, one of the principal connoisseurs and arbiters of taste of the day and Dawe’s success was assured. In the summer of 1815 Dawe briefly employed John Constable, with whom he had been acquainted since 1806, to paint in the background for the full-length portrait of the actress Eliza O'Neill as Juliet: this theatrical scene, full of romantic atmosphere achieved by the effect of glittering lamplight, stirred public opinion when exhibited both in London at the Royal Academy in 1816 and later in St Petersburg in 1827. Dawe seems to have established himself in the unofficial rôle of a Court Painter with commissions of portraits of Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg Saalfeld, later king of the Belgians, who married in 1816 and the Duke and Duchess of Kent. Under the patronage of the Duke of Kent, Dawe travelled as part of his retinue, visiting Paris, Cambrai, Brussels, and Aix-la-Chapelle for the Congress between Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia. In the autumn of 1818 while working at Aix on a portrait of Prince Volkonsky, Dawe was noticed by Emperor Alexander I and invited to go to St Petersburg to paint, on very profitable terms, more than three hundred portraits of Russian commanders who had distinguished themselves in the campaign against Napoleon. Dawe travelled to the Russian capital via Germany, where in Weimar he met and painted Goethe (Goethe Museum, Weimar) and discussed with him his essay on the theory of colour then in preparation. Dawe arrived in St Petersburg in the spring of 1819 and established his studio there for ten years until May 1828, although he briefly returned in the spring of 1829. For five years, until the Military Gallery opened in the Winter Palace in December 1826, Dawe's studio included his brother Henry and brother-in-law Thomas Wright (who married Mary Margaret Dawe in St Petersburg in 1825). Dr Galina Andreeva numbers about four hundred military and not less than a hundred society portraits by Dawe whilst he was working in Russia. Among the best portraits painted by Dawe in Russia are those of Barclay de Tolly and Admiral Shishkov (both in the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg); the young Countess Stroganov (Alupka Palace, Alupka, Crimea), and the Mezhakov family (Vologda Art Gallery, Vologda). In spite of his prodigious output, Dawe was also known for his diverse interests, finding time to study anatomy, the theory of colour, psychology, and languages including Russian which he attempted to use on his extensive travels in Russia. He also built up a fine collection of old masters many of which were sold after his death in London. Dawe enjoyed an unparalleled success in Russia: in 1820 Dawe was elected an honorary member of the Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg, where in 1827 he was allowed to exhibit 150 portraits. In the winter of 1826 he held a solo exhibition in Moscow and on the death of Dawe’s patron, the new Emperor, Nicholas I, chose him as Court Painter for the coronation ceremony. The following year he was appointed the First Portrait Painter at court and in 1829 accompanied Grand Duke Constantine to Warsaw. On his first return to England, Dawe brought with him several Russian portraits and in November 1828 showed them to King William IV at Windsor Castle, before departing again for Russia. During his journey, which took from November 1828 to February 1829, Dawe visited the courts of Germany and France where he was enthusiastically received. Dawe’s stay in St Petersburg was, however, short-lived as he had been suffering from ill health for some time and in August 1829 returned permanently to London. Dawe died a few months later and on 27 October he was buried with honours in St Paul's Cathedral.

Creator:
George Dawe (1781 - 1829, English)
Creation Year:
1819
Dimensions:
Height: 26 in (66.04 cm)Width: 22.5 in (57.15 cm)
Medium:
Oil,Canvas
Movement Style:
Old Masters
Period:
19th Century
Condition:
In excellent condition, the canvas is unlined. In a fine gilt-wood frame.
Gallery Location:
London, GB
Reference Number:
1stDibs: LU150727720142

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