STRÖHLING, Eduard - b. 1768 Düsseldorf, d. ~1826 London

Peter Eduard Ströhling (also Stroehling or Strohling), German painter. Born into a Catholic family long-established in Düsseldorf, he began his artistic career in Russia, under the patronage of Catherine the Great and then her son Paul I. He later returned to western Europe, working periodically in Italy, France and Austria, where he gained some renown as a portraitist and history painter.

Some time in the late 1790s he settled in London where he painted several pictures of the Prince of Wales, future George IV, and other leading figures of contemporary society. His highly finished style, typical of an artist trained in the Dutch tradition, was an obvious contrast to the work of contemporary British portrait painters, although he paid tribute to the portrait conventions of the period. The precise date of his death, presumably in London, has not yet been discovered.

Portrait of Colonel (later General Sir) George De Lacy Evans

The subject of the portrait was George de Lacy Evans, whose mother was a De Lacy, a family descended in the female line from Charlemagne and which had held important posts under the Norman Kings in Ireland. He had a long and successful military career in India, Spain, America and Russia.