"Portrait of Konstantin Khristoforovich Benckendorf" - a picture of George Dow and his workshop from the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace.
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| George Dow and the workshop | ||
| Portrait of Konstantin Khristoforovich Benckendorf . 1823 year | ||
| Canvas, oil. 70 × 62.5 cm | ||
| State Hermitage Museum , St. Petersburg | ||
| ( inv. GE-8133 ) | ||
The picture is a chest portrait of Lieutenant General Alexander Khristoforovich Benckendorff from the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace [1] .
Before the Patriotic War of 1812, Benckendorf was a secretary of the embassy in Naples, and after the invasion of Napoleon, he was accepted into the cavalry as a major , was a member of the flying detachment of F.F. Wincingerode , and was promoted to lieutenant colonel for military distinctions. In the overseas campaign, he was in the detachment of A. I. Chernyshev and received the rank of colonel , and after crossing the Rhine, he was promoted to major general for distinction during the assault on Soissons [2] .
Depicted in a general's uniform introduced for cavalry generals on April 6, 1814. On the left chest is a star of the Order of St. Anne of the 1st degree; on the neck there is a cross of the Order of St. George of the 3rd degree, below the side of the uniform the crosses of the orders of St. Vladimir of the 2nd degree and the Prussian Red Eagle of the 2nd degree are visible; on the right is the silver medal “In memory of the Patriotic War of 1812” on the St. Andrew’s ribbon , crosses of the Swedish Military Order of the Sword of the 4th degree and the Bavarian Military Order of Maximilian Joseph . On the left, just below the epaulet, the artist’s signature and illegible date: Geo Dawe RA Pinx t ... On the back of the inscription painting: Geo Dawe RA pinx t and Benkendorf [3] . Signature on the frame: C.H. Benckendorf, General Major .
On August 7, 1820, the Benkendorf Attestation Committee of the General Staff was included in the list of “generals who were in battles who were not included in the lists for the gallery because they were not forwarded to the Committee” and the writing of his portrait was left to the discretion of Emperor Alexander I , who June 4, 1823 ordered the portrait to be painted. Since 1820, Benckendorf was listed as an extraordinary envoy in Württemberg and Baden and permanently resided in Riga . In late July - early August 1823, he came to St. Petersburg and probably then posed for a portrait. The Dow fee was paid on November 27, 1823 and May 19, 1824. The finished portrait was taken to the Hermitage on June 15, 1826 [4] . On April 17, 1823, K. H. Benckendorf was awarded the Order of St. Anne of the 1st degree, and he received diamond marks for this order on February 16, 1824 [5] ; the portrait shows the star of this order without diamonds, respectively, the work of the Dow should be dated to 1823.
An old copy from the gallery portrait of an unknown artist’s work belonged to the Benckendorff family, after the October Revolution it was nationalized and has been stored in the Hermitage’s stores since 1919 (oil on canvas; 70.5 × 61.5 cm; inventory number GE 5885) [6] . The guardian of British painting in the State Hermitage E.P. Renne notes the extremely low quality of this copy [7] .
Notes
- ↑ State Hermitage Museum. “Dow, George and the workshop.” "Portrait of Konstantin Khristoforovich von Benckendorf."
- ↑ Dictionary , p. 316.
- ↑ Renne, 2009 , p. 266.
- ↑ Podmazo, 2013 , p. 319.
- ↑ Podmazo, 2013 , p. 750.
- ↑ State Hermitage Museum. - “Portrait of Konstantin Khristoforovich von Benckendorff” (copy).
- ↑ Renne, 2009 , p. 112-113.
Literature
- Podmazo A. A. Images of the heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812: Military Gallery of the Winter Palace. - M .: Russian Knights, 2013 .-- 864 p. - ISBN 978-5-903389-62-9 .
- Renne E. P. British Painting of the 16th — 19th Centuries: Collection Catalog. - SPb. : Publishing House of the State Hermitage Museum, 2009. - 416 p. - ISBN 978-5-93572-376-7 .
- Dictionary of Russian generals, participants in the hostilities against the army of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1812-1815. // Russian archive. The history of the Fatherland in the evidence and documents of the XVIII — XX centuries. : Collection. - M .: TRITE studio N. Mikhalkova , 1996. - T. VII . - S. 316 . - ISSN 0869-20011 . (Comm. A. A. Podmazo )