George Dawe is probably today most celebrated as having been created 'First Portrait Painter of the Imperial Court' by Tsar Alexander I of Russia. The early part of his career, however, was spent in London where, in 1809 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy and an Academician in 1814. With patrons such as the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Kent, his other commissions included portraits of the Duke of Cumberland, the Duke of Wellington and Sir David Wilkie. In 1819, while travelling on the Continent with the Duke of Kent's retinue, Tsar Alexander I invited him to Russia with, above all, one specific commission in mind - that the artist should paint over three hundred portraits of generals who had distinguished themselves in the Napoleonic wars. On accepting the Tsar's commission, Dawe moved to Russia and over the ensuing years his work was received to such acclaim that no native-born artist could match his official influence or celebrity. His portraits of the Generals now hang in the Military Gallery at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg - the city in which Dawe was based until his return to England in 1828, the year before his death.