The remains of Two Churches at Swaffham Prior as they appeared in June 1806

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Government Art Collection

William Alexander was born in Maidstone, Kent; the son of a coachbuilder. He entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1784 and may have trained under watercolourist Julius Caesar Ibbetson. He travelled to China as Junior Draughtsman in Lord Macartney's embassy of 1792 to 1794 and his drawings of the expedition were later engraved. In 1802 he became the first Master of Landscape Drawing at the Royal Military College in Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire. He held an interest in medieval architecture and travelled throughout Britain, drawing churches and monuments. His drawings of Egyptian antiquities in the British Museum were engraved and published between 1805 and 1807. In 1808, he was appointed the Museum’s Assistant Keeper of Prints and Drawings.

Places

England, Swaffham Prior, Cambridgeshire

Subjects

topography, stone/rock, man, path, house, cottage, church, ruin

Materials & Techniques

engraving, coloured engraving

Artist

William Alexander (1767 - 1816)
Elizabeth Byrne

Title

The remains of Two Churches at Swaffham Prior as they appeared in June 1806

Date

Medium

Coloured engraving

Acquisition

Purchased from Sotheby's, 22 February 1977

GAC number

13096