Alexander was appointed the first Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, a post he held from 1808 until his death. Before that he was draughtsman to the British Embassy to China, sent out between 1792-4 to seek trading concessions and led by George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney (1737-1806). The journal Alexander kept during this trip, along with the huge numbers of detailed sketches he produced, provides an invaluable record of the earliest embassy to China. On his return to England Alexander worked up many of his sketches into carefully executed watercolors. Of his annual submissions to the Royal Academy between 1795 and 1804, thirteen were of Chinese subjects. Several of his drawings were also used to illustrate Sir George Staunton’s An Authentic Account of an Embassy from the King of Great Britain to the Emperor of China, published in 1797.
Roger Makins was a British Diplomat who was Ambassador to the United States (1953-6). As a collector he is best known for his collection of Pre-Raphaelite Art but he also put together a fine collection of Early British Drawings, the majority purchased from the prestigious London dealers Agnew’s and Spink.