Portrait of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with children

From the walls of the "military hall" of the Hermitage, from hundreds of half-length portraits (only a few are painted full-length), beautiful courageous faces, "full of belligerent courage", look at you. , gold sewing of uniforms, aiguillettes, epaulettes ... And all this is George Doe
George Doe (1781-1829) - was born in London in 1781 in the family of an engraver and from an early age was preparing to inherit his father's profession, an interesting, honorable and rather "bread". He studies at the London Academy of Arts, receives the title of a freelance artist, but soon abandons the family craft, takes up large-scale canvases on mythical and biblical subjects. And here is the first award. In 1804, Dow received a large gold medal of the London Academy of Arts for the painting "The Frenzy of Achilles at the News of the Death of Patroclus" (based on Homer's Iliad).
"Portrait of Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov." By 1827, Dow was a member of the St. Petersburg and London academies of arts, was elected to the Vienna, Florence, Paris, Munich, Dresden and Stockholm academies. Nine years in Russia - and more than 400 paintings (and with unaccounted third parties - more than 500).