Alexander Polyakov (artist)

Under the agreement, he would "work and study" with Dawe, on the condition that he be allowed to attend evening classes at the Imperial Academy of Arts.

[1] He also deducted pay for the days that Polyakov was ill which, due to his poor health, often left him with little.

Dawe was painting portraits of war heroes for the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace.

He was also given a monthly stipend of 30 Rubles, but this was barely enough for basic necessities, and he died in poverty at the age of thirty-four.

Among the works verified to be entirely his own are "Peter I at a Shipyard, with a View of Amsterdam" (1819), and a portrait of Tsar Nicholas I (1829).