“Portrait of Modest Matveyevich Okulov” - a painting by George Dow and his workshop from the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace.
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| George Dow and the workshop | ||
| Portrait of Modest Matveevich Okulov . Around 1826-1827 | ||
| Canvas, oil. 70 × 62.5 cm | ||
| State Hermitage Museum , St. Petersburg | ||
| ( inv. GE-7934 ) | ||
The picture is a chest portrait of Major General Modest Matveevich Okulov from the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace [1] .
During the Patriotic War of 1812, Major General Okulov was the chief of the Rylsky Infantry Regiment and commanded the 1st Brigade of the 23rd Infantry Division. Killed in the battle of Ostrovno [2] .
Depicted in the general's uniform introduced for infantry generals on May 7, 1817, this is a gross mistake of the artist, since Okulov could not wear such a uniform because of his death at the very beginning of World War II. On the neck there are crosses of the orders of St. Vladimir of the 3rd degree and St. Anne of the 2nd degree with diamonds; a silver medal “In memory of the Patriotic War of 1812” on the St. Andrew’s ribbon and a bronze noble medal “In memory of the Patriotic War of 1812” on the Vladimir ribbon on the right chest - both medals were also shown erroneously, because Okul did not manage to get them. On the back of the picture is an inscription: Okouloff [3] . Signature on the frame: M. M. Okulov, General Mayor .
On August 7, 1820, the Okulov Certification Committee of the General Staff was included in the list of “generals deserving to be written in the gallery” and on November 11, 1821, Emperor Alexander I ordered his portrait to be painted. In the Inspectorate Department of the Ministry of War there was extensive correspondence related to the search for a portrait prototype. The widow of Okulova said that she didn’t have a portrait of her husband and she didn’t know that anyone had one, but it turned out that his brother Alexei had the portrait, but was lost during the war of 1812. Nevertheless, an image of Okulov was found and Dow successfully painted a portrait for the Military Gallery . On April 25, 1823, Dow received an advance and on June 21, 1827, Dow was paid the remaining fee for this work. The finished portrait was accepted into the Hermitage on July 8, 1827, and since the previous delivery of the finished portraits was completed on October 18, 1826, the gallery portrait of Okulov was painted between these dates. The prototype portrait is unknown to modern researchers [4] .
Notes
- ↑ State Hermitage Museum. “Dow, George and the workshop.” "Portrait of Modest Matveevich Okulov."
- ↑ Dictionary , p. 495-496.
- ↑ Renne, 2009 , p. 328.
- ↑ Podmazo, 2013 , p. 459.
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. State Hermitage Museum. 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. 495-496 . - ISSN 0869-20011 . (Comm. A. A. Podmazo )