George Dawe

English painter, draughtsman. Brother-in-law of Thomas Wright. Son of the engraver Philip Dawe, who worked with William Hogarth and Joseph Mallord William Turner. Studied engraving under his father and painting under Sir Thomas Lawrence at the Royal Academy of Arts (1796–1810). Associate member of the Royal Academy (1809), academician (1814). Attended the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818), where he caught the attention of Tsar Alexander I, who invited him to Russia (1819). Painted 329 portraits of Russian generals who fought in the Napoleonic Wars for the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace (1819–29). Honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1820). Invited to the coronation of Tsar Nicholas I (1826) and appointed first portrait painter to the imperial court (1828). Visited England (1828–29). Forced to leave Russia and return to London after catching a cold and experiencing breathing problems in St Petersburg (1829). Died at the home of Thomas Wright in Kentish Town and buried at St Paul’s Cathedral (1829).