John Alexander (painter)

There he studied under Giuseppe Chiari and received commissions from the exiled Stuart court.

[1] Following his return to Scotland in 1720[1] he was commissioned by the 2nd Duke of Gordon (whom he had probably first met in Italy) to decorate a staircase at Gordon Castle with a painting depicting the Rape of Proserpine.

[1] Many of his clients, including Gordon, were Jacobites, and Alexander himself took part in the rising of 1745, becoming a fugitive after the Battle of Culloden.

[4] He was active as a printmaker, and etched some plates after Raphael's frescoes in the Loggie of the Vatican.

In gratitude for the patronage of Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, he dedicated a set of six, dated 1717 and 1718, to him;[5] Joseph Strutt wrote that they did Alexander no kind of credit, and termed them slight, loose, and incorrect etchings.