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Lot description
GEORGE DAWE (ENGLISH 1781-1829) Princess Charlotte, 1818 oil on canvas 140 x 110 cm (55 x 43 1/4 in.) signed and dated G DAWE R.A PINXIT/1818 PROVENANCE Acquired from the summer residence of the King of Hannover, Castle Herrenhauser, with partial inventory label on stretcher, and collection stamp on the canvas verso EAFC [Familien Fideicommiss Seiner Majestaet des hochseligen Koenigs Ernst August von Hannover. 1836.1843] Sotheby's, Munich, Works of Art from the Royal House of Hanover, October 6, 2005, Lot 588 EXHIBITED Annual Exhibition of the Royal Academy, London, 1818 (No. 42, Her Late Royal Highness Princess Charlotte) This portrait of Princess Charlotte Augusta was painted in 1818, shortly after the tragic death of the young Princess (1796-1817). Apart from being an exceptionally visually appealing early 19th century portrait painting with both a Royal sitter and a Royal provenance, the present lot is quite historically significant. It is difficult to overestimate the effect that the untimely death of the Princess Charlotte of Wales had on the people of Great Britain. The closest event in recent memory to which one could compare it, would be the death of Princess Diana in our time. After Charlotte's death, the entire country went into mourning, with shops closing for two weeks, and even the Exchange and Law Courts closing, amongst other institutions. George Dawe was a favored English portraitist of high society. An Academician at the Royal Academy of the Arts, his patrons included the Duke and Duchess of Kent, as well as Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold. This painting, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1818, was consequently a reverent and exquisite homage to the Princess by one of her own favorite painters. One can certainly imagine the emotions that this portrait stirred in its viewers, painted as it is with an ethereal but still vital quality, with the beautiful beloved Princess surrounded by the heavens. George Dawe is a very well known artist in Russia. This is thanks to the Duke of Kent, with whom he toured through Europe in 1819 shortly after exhibiting this painting at the Royal Academy. As a result of his tour, he was commissioned by Tsar Alexander I to paint 329 portraits of the Russian officers who defeated Napoleon, which form the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. Indeed, Dawe lived in St. Petersburg from 1822-28, working on the commission, and in 1828 was even appointed First Portrait Painter of the Imperial Court.