Cosmo Alexander | |
|---|---|
 Self-portrait, 1749 | |
| Born | Cosmo Alexander[1] 1724 |
| Died | 25 August 1772(1772-08-25) (aged 47–48) |
| Known for | Painting |
| Movement | Jacobitism |
Cosmo Alexander (1724 – 25 August 1772) was a Scottish portrait painter. A supporter ofJames Edward Stuart's claim to theEnglish andScottish thrones, Alexander spent much of his life overseas following the defeat of theJacobite cause in 1746.
Alexander was the son ofJohn Alexander, a painter and engraver fromAberdeen, and was named Cosmo afterCosmo Gordon, son of the JacobiteDuke of Gordon. In 1745 he took part in theJacobite Rising, which concluded with the defeat ofBonnie Prince Charlie atCulloden in January 1746.
Like many other prominent Jacobites he fled to Europe, arriving inRome in 1747. He was commissioned to paint Bonnie Prince Charlie, and continued to paint portraits of the exiled Jacobites as he traveled through Italy and then France over the following years. He settled inLondon in 1754, where the architectJames Gibbs, his friend and fellow Scots Catholic, had left him a house. Over the following decade he worked in London, Scotland and the Netherlands, joining theIncorporated Society of Artists in 1765.
In 1766 Alexander moved toPhiladelphia and painted portraits of the Scottish communities of the American colonies. In 1768,William Franklin, the Royal Governor of New Jersey, invited Alexander to his mansion in Burlington to do commission work. The next year, inNewport, Rhode Island, Alexander took on an assistant namedGilbert Stuart, who was then 14 years old. Alexander and Stuart traveled in the southern states, and in 1771 Alexander returned with Stuart to Scotland. Stuart planned to continue his studies under Alexander, but the elder painter died in Edinburgh the following year on 25 August 1772.
A fictional lost painting by Cosmo Alexander is a plot point in the 1927 novellaThe Case of Charles Dexter Ward by horror writerHP Lovecraft. In the story, Alexander is described as being "a painter worthy of the Scotland that producedHenry Raeburn, and a teacher worthy of his illustrious pupil Gilbert Stuart."[2]
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Media related toCosmo Alexander at Wikimedia Commons
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