A Young Man Leaning on a Fence

William Alexander

1785–92 · Watercolor and graphite · Drawings and Prints

Alexander is best known for travelling to China between 1792 and 1794 as part of the official group that accompanied Lord Macartney’s embassy to Peking. This charming study of a young man in the English countryside likely dates before his departure, and resembles works by Julius Caesar Ibbetson, who is believed to have taught Alexander at the Royal Academy Schools which the young artist attended after moving to London from Maidstone in 1782. Once he returned from China in 1794, Alexander focused on illustrating published accounts of the journey, and turned sketches of the orient into finished compositions for Royal Academy exhibitions. In 1808, he became the British Museum’s first keeper of prints and drawings.

Artist

William Alexander

Date

1785–92

Medium

Watercolor and graphite

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Andrew Clayton-Payne, 2018