William Alexander. was an English painter, illustrator and engraver.

Life and works

William Alexander was born in Maidstone

Maidstone

Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, the son of Harry Alexander, a coachmaker. He was educated at Maidstone Grammar School

Maidstone Grammar School

Maidstone Grammar School is a grammar school located in Maidstone, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1549.-Admissions:The school takes boys at the age of 11 and over by examination and boys and girls at 16+ on their GCSE results. The school currently has almost 1200 students and approximately 120...

, but in 1782, at the age of 15, moved to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 to study art - first under William Pars

William Pars

William Pars was an English watercolour portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman and illustrator.-Life and works:...

, and subsequently J. C. Ibbetson

Julius Caesar Ibbetson

Julius Caesar Ibbetson was a British 18th-century landscape and watercolour painter.-Early life and education:...

. In February 1784, he was admitted to the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

. He assiduously applied himself to the mastery of his profession, obtaining the notice and approbation of Sir Joshua Reynolds

Joshua Reynolds

Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...

.

In 1792, he was appointed as one of the draughtsmen to the Macartney Embassy

Macartney Embassy

The Macartney Embassy, also called the Macartney Mission, was a British embassy to China in 1793. The Mission ran from 1792–94 . It is named for the first envoy of Great Britain to China, George Macartney, who led the endeavour...

 to China. He accompanied the Earl of Macartney

George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney

George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney, KB was an Irish-born British statesman, colonial administrator and diplomat. He is often remembered for his observation following Britain's success in the Seven Years War and subsequent territorial expansion at the Treaty of Paris that Britain now controlled...

 to Peking where he made drawings for the plates which accompanied Sir George Staunton

George Thomas Staunton

Sir George Thomas Staunton, 2nd Baronet was an English traveller and Orientalist.-Early life:Born at Milford House near Salisbury, he was the son of Sir George Leonard Staunton , first baronet, diplomatist and Orientalist...

's account of that embassy (published in 1797). In 1794 he returned to England and married Jane Wogan the following year. She died soon afterwards.

His other principal works were: "Views of Headlands, Islands, etc. taken during the Voyage to China" (1798); drawings based on Mr. Daniells's Sketches, for Vancouver

George Vancouver

Captain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...

's "Voyage to the North Pacific Ocean" (1798); and the descriptive plates to Sir John Barrow's

Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet

Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet, FRS, FRGS was an English statesman.-Career:He was born the son of Roger Barrow in the village of Dragley Beck, in the parish of Ulverston then in Lancashire, now in Cumbria...

 "Travels in China" (1804), and "Voyage to Cochin China" (1806). In 1805 he published "The Costume of China", illustrated by 48 coloured engravings. The work was so well-received that another volume was later published in 1814 - again with 48 coloured plates.

In 1802, Alexander was appointed professor of drawing at the Military College at Great Marlow

Great Marlow

Great Marlow is a civil parish within Wycombe district in the English county of Buckinghamshire located north of the town of Marlow and south of High Wycombe. The parish includes the hamlets of Bovingdon Green, Burroughs Grove, Chisbridge Cross and Marlow Common, and Danesfield Base, a housing...

, resigning in May 1808 to take up the post of assistant keeper of antiquities in the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

. In the years 1810, 1812, and 1815, Alexander made drawings of the terra cotta

Terra cotta

Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...

s and marbles in the Museum which were engraved and published in 3 volumes - the accompanying text being provided by Taylor Combe (keeper of the Department of Antiquities). Before his death, Mr. Alexander had completed drawings for a fourth volume.

Alexander died at the house of his uncle in Maidstone in July 1816, and was subsequently buried in Boxley

Boxley

The large village and civil parish of Boxley in the Maidstone District of Kent, England lies below the slope of the North Downs, four miles NE of Maidstone town...

 churchyard. He was described in one of his obituaries as "a man of mild and unassuming manners, rich in the knowledge of art, and of unsullied integrity."

The leading characteristics of Alexander's work, usually executed in watercolours, were clearness and harmony of colour, simplicity and taste in composition, grace of outline, and delicacy of execution. Besides his works as a draughtsman, he made several engravings - the principal one of which is a representation of the Festival given by the Earl of Romney to the Kentish Volunteers, on 1 August 1799, from a drawing made by himself.

External links

• W. Alexander online (ArtCyclopedia)
• Biography (www.groveart.com)