The State Hermitage Museum: Exhibitions

Equestrian Portrait of Alexander I

Franz Kruger

1837

Oil on canvas

In the second half of the 1830s this painting by Franz Kruger replaced the portrait of Alexander I that George Dawe created for the War Gallery of 1812. The Emperor is depicted in the ordinary general's uniform with the sash of the Order of St Andrew the First-Called, the badges of the English Order of the Garter and the Swedish Order of the Sword united by the star of the Order of St Andrew, the badge of the Order of St George (4th class), the Russian medal "In Commemoration of the Patriotic War" and the badges of other foreign orders. Alexander is shown against the background of Paris, mounted on Eclipse, the horse Napoleon gave him at Erfurt in 1808 and which Alexander then rode into the French capital in 1814.

Alexander I (1777-1825) was the son of Emperor Paul I and Empress Maria Fiodorovna and succeeded to the throne on 12 March 1801. He was the favourite grandson of Catherine II who named him in honour of St Alexander Nevsky, the patron saint of St Petersburg.

Alexander most vividly revealed himself as a personality and political figure in the struggle against Napoleon. At Austerlitz in 1805 the forces of the third anti-French coalition, led by Austria and Russia, were routed. Alexander, who together with Emperor Francis I headed the Russo-Austrian army, had been certain of victory. However, the ensuing defeat did not break the Russian Emperor. At the beginning of the Patriotic War of 1812 he gave the celebrated oath "not to lay down arms while a single enemy soldier remains in my realm". During the War of 1812 and the Russian army's foreign campaigns, the Emperor displayed tenacity and patience, allowing more gifted military commanders to get on with their work. In politics he was able to use firmness, flexibility, cunning and even a talent for play-acting. After his exile to St Helena, Napoleon wrote: "Alexander is intelligent, pleasant and well-educated. But he cannot be trusted. He is insincere. He is a true Byzantine, a subtle deceiver, a devious fellow."

Victory over Napoleon strengthened Alexander's authority, making him one of the most powerful rulers in Europe. The Russian Emperor became one of the organizers of the Holy Alliance that was formally proclaimed in 1815. This alliance united Russia, Prussia and Austria with the aim of countering the spread of revolutionary ideas and securing the stability of the decrees adopted at the Congress of Vienna in 1814-15.