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Ad Code: 3
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from Auction House Records.
Portrait of Mrs. Robert Mackay
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  A leading New England portrait painter of the early 19th century
especially noted for female portraits, Francis Alexander was born in
Killingly, Connecticut. A highlight of his career was in 1842
when Charles Dickens consented to sit for him. Alexander had been
so persistent with Dickens that the term "to be Alexander" came into
the language.
He first painted in watercolor without
instruction, and then studied art in New York City with Alexander
Robertson. He was active in his home town of Killingly and in
Providence, Rhode Island in the early 1820s and then moved to Boston
where portraitist Gilbert Stuart befriended him and guided his art
training. From 1831 to 1833, he was in Italy, and then lived in
Boston where during the 1830s and 40s, he gained a distinguished
reputation for portraiture. He briefly visited Washington DC, and
then returned to Italy in 1853 to settle in Florence for the remainder
of his life, visiting the U.S. only once, from 1868 to
1869. In Italy, he became a close friend of sculptor Hiram
Powers, leader of the American art colony. Francis Alexander did
not do much painting in Italy but spent much time instructing his
daughter, Francesca Alexander. His wife was also an artist, Lucia
Gray Swett Alexander.
His portrait style was modeled after
Stuart but is more sentimental, perhaps influenced by Boston's other
leading portrait painter, Washington Allston.
Sources include:
Matthew Baigell, Dictionary of American Art
Peter Falk, Who Was Who in American Art
Francis Alexander is in the following collections in Rhode Island:
Brown University:
(Note: Access restricted, appointment required)
1. Oil portrait, "Benjamin Bowen Carter" (acc.# HP 01173) (Admissions)
2. Oil portrait, "Usher Parsons" (1824) (acc.# HP 01854) (Hay Lib.)
Redwood Library:
1. Oil on panel portrait, "Joseph Hurlbut Patten" (acc.# RLC.PA.001)
Rhode Island Historical Society:
(Note: Access restricted, appointment required)
1. Oil portrait, "Mrs. William H. Russell" (ca. 1823) (acc.# 1906.3.1)
2. Oil portrait, "Samuel Eddy" (ca. 1823) (acc.# 1984.2.1)
3. Oil portrait, "Mrs. Philip Crapo" (ca. 1823) (acc.# 1906.3.2)
4. Oil portrait, "James Fenner" (ca. 1824) (acc.# 1930.11.1)
5. Oil portrait, "Mrs. Fenner and Her Granddaughter" (ca. 1824) (acc.# 1930.11.2)
6. Oil portrait, "Charles Norris Tibbitt" (1823) (acc.# 1970.6.1)
7. Oil portrait, "Mrs. William H. Russell" (ca. 1823) (acc.# 1906.3.1)
8. Oil portrait, "Mrs. John Brown" (1823) (acc.# 1946.4.1)
9. Oil portrait, "George Curtis" (ca. 1820) (acc.# 1951.8.1)
10. Oil portrait, "Mary Elizabeth Burrill Curtis" (acc.# 1951.8.2)
11. Oil portrait, "Abigail Guild" (1828) (acc.# 1982.14.5)
12. Oil portrait, "James Brown Mason" (ca. 1824) (acc.# 1994.50.1)
13. Oil portrait, "Alice Brown Mason" (ca. 1824) (acc.# 1994.50.2)
Source:
Unveiled: a directory and guide to 19th century born artists active in Rhode Island, and where to find their work in publicly accessible Rhode Island collections
by Elinor L. Nacheman
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