John Alexander (1686 – c. 1766)[1] was a Scottish painter and engraver of the 18th century. He studied in Italy under Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari.
Life
[edit]
Alexander was the son of a doctor from Aberdeen. The painter George Jamesone was his paternal great-grandfather.[1] He spent some time in London before going to Rome in 1711. There he studied under Giuseppe Chiari and received commissions from the exiled Stuart court.[1] Following his return to Scotland in 1720[1] he was commissioned by the 2nd Duke of Gordon (whom he had probably first met in Italy) to decorate a staircase at Gordon Castle with a painting depicting the Rape of Proserpine.[2] This was based on a work by his master, Chiari, in the Palazzo Barberini.[3] Alexander's work at the castle was later destroyed, but his sketch for the work survives in the collection of the National Gallery of Scotland.[1]
Many of his clients, including Gordon, were Jacobites, and Alexander himself took part in the rising of 1745, becoming a fugitive after the Battle of Culloden.[1] He resumed his career, however, and was working openly in Aberdeen by 1748.[4]
He was active as a printmaker, and etched some plates after Raphael's frescoes in the Loggie of the Vatican. In gratitude for the patronage of Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, he dedicated a set of six, dated 1717 and 1718, to him;[5] Joseph Strutt wrote that they did Alexander no kind of credit, and termed them slight, loose, and incorrect etchings.[3]
The portrait painter Cosmo Alexander was his son.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f "The Rape of Proserpine". National Galleries of Scotland. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
- ^ Macinnes 2015, pp. 144–5.
- ^ a b Long 1842–4
- ^ a b Macinnes 2015, p147.
- ^ Skinner, Basil (1966), Scots in Italy in the 18th Century, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, p. 30
Sources
[edit]- Long, George. The Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge. London: Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1842–1844. 4 vols.
- Macinnes, Allan I (2015). Living with Jacobitism, 1690–1788: The Three Kingdoms and Beyond. Routledge. pp. 144–5. ISBN 9781317318132.
- Skinner, Basil (1966), Scots in Italy in the 18th Century, National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh
External links
[edit]- 19 artworks by or after John Alexander at the Art UK site: works by John Alexander in British public collections
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