In 1814 the Prince Regent commissioned Thomas Lawrence to paint the monarchs, soldiers and leaders of the coalition that defeated Napoleon, a scheme of portraits which would ultimately hang in the Waterloo Chamber at Windsor Castle. These four paintings of Count Platov, Generals Uvarov and Chernyshev and the Foreign Minister Count Nesselrode, which hang with a portrait of Alexander I, show the Russian representatives of the allies against the French.

Platov’s reputation as a military hero and leader of the Cossacks preceded him, and his arrival in London aroused much interest. Chernyshev was promoted to Colonel of the Cossacks in 1811, and fought at Austerlitz. This portrait combines the intense gaze and dynamic pose often seen in Lawrence’s works. Nesselrode was included in the commissioned portraits because of his role as Foreign Minister to Alexander I and as a diplomat at the Congress of Vienna. Uvarov commanded a regiment of the Horse Guards and fought at Borodino in 1812, one of the most decisive battles of the Napoleonic Wars. Two years later he led the cavalry in pursuit of the French in the Retreat from Moscow.

Painted for George IV, when Prince Regent.