William Alexander (b. 1767 / d.1816)

William Alexander was born on April 10, 1767 in Maidstone, Kent.

Alexander began his eduction at Maidstone Grammar School before moving to London in 1782 to study art. He was admitted to the Royal Academy in February of 1784.

He was appointed as one of the draughtsmen to the Macartney Embassy to China in 1792. Alexander returned to England in 1794. The next year, he married Jan Wogan who passed away soon afterward.

Alexander was appointed professor of drawing at the Military College at Great Marlow, in 1802. He resigned in May 1808 to be the assistant keeper of antiquities in the British Museum. The years between 1810 to 1815, he made drawings of the terra cottas and marbles in the Museum which were engraved and published in 3 volumes. Keeper of the Department of Antiquities, Taylor Combe, wrote the accompanying text. Before his death, Alexander had completed drawings for a fourth volume.

Publishings and Illustrations:
1798 published Views of the Headlands, Islands, &c., taken during the voyage to China

1804 illustrated Barrow's Travels in China

1805 published a volume of engravings illustrative of the Egyptian antiquities in he British Museum taken from the French expeditionary force
illustrated The Costume of China, Illustrated in forty-eight Coloured Engravings

1806 illustrated Voyage to Cochin China"
1813 published Picturesque Representations of the Dress and Manners of the Austrians

Alexander died in July of 1816 at the house of his uncle in Maidstone, Kent.

Sources Include:
www.en.wikipedia.org
www.answers.com