Portrait of Emperor Alexander I (1777-1825), small full-length, in the uniform of the Preobrazhensky Regiment

In 1818, Alexander I invited George Dawe, a rival to Sir Thomas Lawrence and portraitist to the Duke of Kent, to Russia to create what became the celebrated War Gallery in the Winter Palace. Over the course of a decade, Dawe and his assistants, Poliakov and Vassily Golike, painted over 300 portraits of generals who led Russia to victory in the Patriotic War of 1812. The project ignited a hugely successful career in Russia for Dawe; he was soon elected an honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Arts, and created First Portrait Painter to the Russian Court by the Tsar.

Dawe established a successful studio in St. Petersburg with British and Russian assistants, where he took commissions from aristocratic patrons. He won the admiration of Alexander Pushkin and the personal favour of the Emperor, who gave him a studio in the Winter Palace. In 1823, Dawe proudly wrote to a friend back in London friend, 'The Emperor has given me a sitting about a week ago. He will give me as many as I require and I fancy I shall make a very successful picture…'.

One of these sittings resulted in the portrait that would become the Russian Tsar's iconic image. Showing the Emperor full-length in Life Guards’ uniform with Russian and foreign decorations and cocked hat in hand, the portrait was sent to Lord Londonderry in 1824, then engraved by Thomas Wright and published in 1826. Dawe was officially given the exclusive right to make and license copies of this portrait, thus the only authorised versions were produced by Dawe himself in his St. Petersburg studio.

After the Emperor's death, Nicholas I commissioned portraits of his late brother for diplomatic gifts. The present work, given to British diplomat Charles Moberly in 1826, bears a seal with the Moberly family arms on the reverse. As Acting Consul General in St. Petersburg, Moberly later managed Dawe’s estate, helping to preserve the artist’s legacy.