George DuryGeorge Dury (b. Bavaria, 1817- d. Nashville, 1894) was born at Wurzburg, Bavaria, in 1817; and died in Nashville, Tennessee in 1894. George Dury studied art at the Academie der Bildende Kiensti in Munich, and as a young man won acclaim for his small cabinet portraits. Among his subjects were Prince Adalbert of Bavaria and Queen Theresa of Greece. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1849 and by 1850, established a studio on Union Street in Nashville. There he made a name for himself painting the prominent citizens of Middle Tennessee. His business survived the Civil War, and his portraits of Mr. and Mrs. William Blackmore were exhibited at the 1876 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. and, as a young man, enjoyed the patronage of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. A portrait of Lola Montez, Ludwig’s flamboyant mistress, and a miniature of the Grand Duke Alexis survive from that era.
