3-094-128 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Portrait of Miguel Ricardo de Alava, 1818. A veteran of the Spanish contingent at Trafalgar, Alava (1770-1843) joined the uprising against the French in 1808. In 1810 he was sent as Spanish liaison with the British in Portugal, where he became friendly with the Duke of Wellington. In 1815, as Spanish ambassador to the Hague, he was able to take up an appointment on Wellington's field staff as the Spanish Commissionary for the allies at the Battle of Waterloo. Álava holds the distinction of having been present at both Trafalgar and Waterloo, fighting against the British at the former and with them at the latter. He served as Prime Minister of Spain in 1835. English portraitist George Dawe (1781-1829) was commissioned by Alexander I to paint 329 portraits of senior Russian military staff who had successfully fought Napoleon during his invasion of Russia, for the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace. Dawe worked in Saint Petersburg from 1822 to 1828, with his assistants, Alexander Polyakov and Wilhelm August Golicke, and was officially appointed First Portrait Painter of the Imperial Court.