Period:Unknown Production date:1799
Materials:paper
Technique:drawn
Subjects:chinese
Dimensions:Height: 284 millimetres Width: 448 millimetres
Description:
Xizhimen, one of the western gates of Peking; a three-arched bridge across a stream which flows from the foreground left into the distance r, on the further side the wall of Beijing parallel with the water, in the wall opposite the bridge, a gate with two towers, boats on the water and many figures on both banks. 1799 Watercolour, over graphite
IMG
![图片[1]-drawing BM-1882-0812.225-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Unknown/43/mid_00020905_001.jpg)
![图片[2]-drawing BM-1882-0812.225-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Unknown/43/mid_00034423_001.jpg)
![图片[3]-drawing BM-1882-0812.225-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Unknown/43/mid_00088077_001.jpg)
Comments:Engraved, with some variations, by J.Dudley in G. Staunton, “Authentic Account of Lord Macartney’s Embassy”, London 1797, where it was simply described as “View of one of the Western Gates of the City of Pekin”. The identification as Xizhimen was confirmed by curators at the Palace Museum, Beijing, when the drawing was displayed there in 2007.G W Reid’s Report to the Trustees, 6 July 1882, requesting requesting permission to purchase this and two other drawings from J Hogarth & Sons for £54.12s., refers to “A view of Pekin, by W. Alexander, which, it has been pointed out by Lord Thurlow, who was aide-de-camp to Lord Elgin, is of special interest as showing the exact spot afterwards occupied by the British troops previous to marching on Pekin in 1860”.L. Stainton, “British Landscape Watercolours 1600-1860” (BM, exh. cat., 1985):Alexander was the first Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, being appointed in 1808. He had had a respectable career as a draughtsman of topographical subjects and for the previous six years had been Master of Landscape Drawing at the Royal Military College, Great Marlow. Although his own style was not innovative he associated with, and to some extent was influenced by, the most progressive young artists of the day, being a member of Girtin’s Sketching Club, and copying drawings in the collection of Dr Monro where his fellow-students included Turner and Cotman.It is for his Chinese subjects that Alexander is best known. He accompanied Lord Macartney’s embassy to Peking in 1793-4 and was the only artist of the period to visit the interior of China. After his return to England he made numerous drawings worked up from sketches taken on the spot, publications including engravings after his views of China continuing to appear as late as 1814. Another version of the present drawing is in the Museum and Art Gallery at Maidstone (Alexander’s home town); an engraving by J. Dadley, dated 1796, appears as Pl. xx to Sir George Staunton’s “Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China”.Most of the gates and walls of Beijing were demolished in the 1950s.
Materials:paper
Technique:drawn
Subjects:chinese
Dimensions:Height: 284 millimetres Width: 448 millimetres
Description:
Xizhimen, one of the western gates of Peking; a three-arched bridge across a stream which flows from the foreground left into the distance r, on the further side the wall of Beijing parallel with the water, in the wall opposite the bridge, a gate with two towers, boats on the water and many figures on both banks. 1799 Watercolour, over graphite
IMG
Comments:Engraved, with some variations, by J.Dudley in G. Staunton, “Authentic Account of Lord Macartney’s Embassy”, London 1797, where it was simply described as “View of one of the Western Gates of the City of Pekin”. The identification as Xizhimen was confirmed by curators at the Palace Museum, Beijing, when the drawing was displayed there in 2007.G W Reid’s Report to the Trustees, 6 July 1882, requesting requesting permission to purchase this and two other drawings from J Hogarth & Sons for £54.12s., refers to “A view of Pekin, by W. Alexander, which, it has been pointed out by Lord Thurlow, who was aide-de-camp to Lord Elgin, is of special interest as showing the exact spot afterwards occupied by the British troops previous to marching on Pekin in 1860”.L. Stainton, “British Landscape Watercolours 1600-1860” (BM, exh. cat., 1985):Alexander was the first Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, being appointed in 1808. He had had a respectable career as a draughtsman of topographical subjects and for the previous six years had been Master of Landscape Drawing at the Royal Military College, Great Marlow. Although his own style was not innovative he associated with, and to some extent was influenced by, the most progressive young artists of the day, being a member of Girtin’s Sketching Club, and copying drawings in the collection of Dr Monro where his fellow-students included Turner and Cotman.It is for his Chinese subjects that Alexander is best known. He accompanied Lord Macartney’s embassy to Peking in 1793-4 and was the only artist of the period to visit the interior of China. After his return to England he made numerous drawings worked up from sketches taken on the spot, publications including engravings after his views of China continuing to appear as late as 1814. Another version of the present drawing is in the Museum and Art Gallery at Maidstone (Alexander’s home town); an engraving by J. Dadley, dated 1796, appears as Pl. xx to Sir George Staunton’s “Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China”.Most of the gates and walls of Beijing were demolished in the 1950s.
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