Portrait of Arseny Andreevich Zakrevsky

“Portrait of Arseny Andreyevich Zakrevsky” - a painting by George Dow and his workshop from the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace.

J. Dow and the workshop

Portrait of Arseny Andreevich Zakrevsky . Around 1820-1825

Canvas, oil. 70 × 62.5 cm

State Hermitage Museum , St. Petersburg

( inv. GE-8091 )

The picture is a chest portrait of Major General Arseny Andreevich Zakrevsky from the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace ^[1] .

Since the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812, Colonel Zakrevsky was the director of the Special Military Chancellery of the Minister of War (in fact, led the military intelligence), distinguished himself in the battle of Borodino , and at the end of 1812 was awarded the title of adjutant wing. In the overseas campaigns of 1813-1814 he fought in Prussia and Saxony , was promoted to major general for military distinctions, and then was in many battles until the capture of Paris ^[2] .

Depicted in the adjutant-general uniform, introduced in 1815, with the monogram of Emperor Alexander I on epaulettes . On the left on the chest are the retinue axelbant and the star of the Order of St. Anne of the 1st degree; on the neck there is a cross of the Order of St. Vladimir of the 2nd degree; on board the uniform are crosses of the Prussian orders of the Red Eagle of the 2nd degree and Pur le Merit and the Austrian Order of Leopold of the 2nd degree; cross on the right side of the Order of St. George , 4th class, silver medal “In memory of the Patriotic War of 1812” on the St. Andrew’s ribbon , gold cross “For Victory at Preisis Eilau” , crosses of the Bavarian Military Order Maximilian Joseph , French Order of St. Louis and an unidentified order, to the right of the star of the Order of St. Vladimir , 2nd degree. On the back of the painting are inscriptions: Zagrefsky and Geo Dawe RA pinx ^{t [3]} . An unidentified order is probably the Württemberg Order of Military Merit of the 3rd degree: a cross of a very similar shape and color, but in this case the artist made a mistake with the ribbon - it should not be blue, but yellow with black stripes on the sides; Zakrevsky was awarded this order in 1814. E. P. Renne, among other awards depicted in the portrait, calls the order of the Netherlands Lion , but this order is not and Zakrevsky was awarded to him much later - in 1853 ^[4] . Signature on the frame: A. A. Zakrevsky, General Mayor .

Despite the fact that on August 7, 1820, Zakrevsky was included in the list of “generals whose service does not belong before the consideration of the Committee,” the decision to paint his portrait took place earlier, since the advance was paid on December 17, 1819. . The remainder of the fee was paid on May 17, 1820. The finished portrait was taken to the Hermitage on September 7, 1825 ^[5] .

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  Variant of a portrait, signed by the artist, owned by Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich

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  Engraving T. Wright

The actual gallery portrait is the author’s repetition of the portrait from the collection of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich , slightly differing in size and overall darker color scheme (canvas, oil, 71.5 × 61.5 cm, inventory number GE-6458) ^[6] . In the lower left corner there is an author's signature and date: Geo Dawe RA Pinxit 1820 ; during a technical study of the canvas, it was found that its edges were once cropped and therefore the picture initially had somewhat larger dimensions. This portrait was kept in the Mikhailovsky Palace until 1894. After the Mikhailovsky Palace was bought into the treasury and the Russian Museum was built in it, he found himself in the mansion of Countess Karlova, after the October Revolution, was nationalized and transferred to the Hermitage in 1923 ^[7] .

In London , the Messrs Colnaghi company, by order of St. Petersburg bookseller S. Florent, printed an engraving by Thomas Wright dated January 1, 1823 ^[8] , taken from a portrait from the collection of Mikhail Pavlovich; one of the preserved prints of the engraving is also available in the Hermitage collection (paper, steel engraving, 56.5 × 40 cm, inventory number ERG-384) ^[9] A notice on the printing of the first two engravings from A.'s portraits was printed in the “ Domestic Notes ”. A. Zakrevsky and P.M. Volkonsky , and it was noted that "the engraver Wright, who in these new works of his incisor showed the incredible art of preserving in engraving not only the striking resemblance, but also all the liveliness of colors inherent in the strong brush of G. Dov ..." ^{[ ten]}

In 1848, in the workshop of Karl Krai, based on a drawing by I. A. Klyukvin , a dated lithography was made from the gallery version of the portrait, published in the book “Emperor Alexander I and His Companions” and subsequently repeatedly reproduced ^[11] . As part of the print run, another lithograph from this portrait was printed, characterized by small details.