3-094-176 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Portrait of Maxim I. Damas (1785-1862), 1823. Portrait of Maxim I. Damas (1785-1862), 1823. Ange Hyacinthe Maxence de Damas de Cormaillon, baron de Damas was a French general and statesman who participated in the Napoleonic Wars on the Russian side before returning to France after Napoleon's exile. Upon his return to France, he continued his military career and entered into politics, eventually becoming the Minister of War and the Minister of Foreign Affairs under the Capetian kings. 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.