Portrait of Alexander Ya. Knyazhnin - George Dawe

Painting Detail

Portrait of Alexander Ya. Knyazhnin (1771 - 1829)
Artist: George Dawe
Medium: Painting, Oil on canvas, 70x62.5 cm
Date: No later than 1825
Genre: History, Portrait
Source: from the author, 1825

George Dawe (6 February 1781, St James's, Westminster - 15 October 1829, Kentish Town) was an English portraitist who painted 329 portraits of Russian generals active during Napoleon's invasion of Russia for the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace. He relocated to Saint Petersburg in 1819, where he won acclaim for his work from the artistic establishment and complimentary verses by Pushkin.

He was the son of Philip Dawe, a successful mezzotint engraver who also produced political cartoons relating to the events of the Boston Tea Party. One of his brothers was Henry Edward Dawe, also a portraitist.

His painting of classical subjects won much praise and were the making of his early reputation but he was more interested in financial success and sought portraiture commissions which were lucrative and which brought him into contact with high society. However, the direct way in which he promoted his own work was not approved of by artistic society and brought considerable criticism from his contemporaries, one of whom was Constable, who painted a background for a Dawe portrait on at least one occasion.