Back

Portrait of Empress Elizabeth

George Dawe

Basic information

ID: Ж-876
Author: George Dawe
Name: Portrait of Empress Elizabeth
Date of creation: 1826
Country: russian empire
Technique: oil painting
Material: canvas oil
Dimensions: 87 x 59 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: painting
Genre: portraiture
Plot: Portrait

Information about author

Author: George Dawe
Artist's lifetime: 1781–1829
Country: russian empire
Biography: George Dawe (February 8, 1781, London – October 15, 1829, London) was a British painter and one of the foremost masters of the romantic formal portrait in the first third of the 19th century. He spent a significant part of his life working in St. Petersburg. The artist and his assistants V. Golike and O. Poliakov made the paintings for the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace. He became an Academician of the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 1814, an honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg in 1820, and the court painter to Emperor Nicholas I in 1828.

Object description

The work is one of the numerous portraits of Russian Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna (1779–1826), the wife of Emperor Alexander I, painted by British artist George Dawe. This full-length formal portrait exists in several authorised copies. The empress is depicted against the backdrop of the Tsarskoye Selo park, wearing a red Empire-style gown with a low neckline and transparent white sleeves. A yellow cashmere shawl, a red hat with white feathers, and white gloves complement the outfit. In the background is a building with columns in the classical style, a river, and an aqueduct.

Inscriptions

In the lower left, there is an artist's signature and the date: "Geo Dawe RA / pinxit S. Petersburg / 1826".

Portrayed person