author
William Alexander
1767–1816
Best known for joining Lord Macartney’s embassy to China, he turned firsthand sketches into vivid books and illustrations that helped British readers picture places they had never seen. He was also a respected watercolorist and later worked at the British Museum.
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About the author
Born in Maidstone, Kent, in 1767, this English artist and illustrator studied at the Royal Academy Schools and built a career around drawing, engraving, and watercolor. His work became especially important after he traveled with Lord Macartney’s embassy to China in the 1790s, where he recorded landscapes, buildings, and everyday life.
Those experiences shaped the books and images he is most remembered for, including illustrated works on China and later on Russia. His pictures gave many readers in Britain one of their first detailed visual impressions of Chinese life and costume.
Later in life, he taught drawing at the Royal Military College and then became the British Museum’s first keeper of prints and drawings. He died in 1816, leaving behind a body of work valued for its clarity, careful observation, and historical interest.