biographie de Francesca ALEXANDER (1837-1917)

Birth place: Boston

Death place: Florence, Italy

Addresses: Florence, Italy

Profession: Genre painter, illustrator, author

Studied: with her father Francis Alexander

Exhibited: Boston Athenaeum, 1869; Centennial Exh., Phila., 1876

Comments: Originally named Esther, she was the daughter of artists Francis Alexander (1800-1880) and Lucia Gray Swett Alexander. She lived most of her life in Italy with her parents and was discovered as an artist by John Ruskin who bought 122 of her drawings. She made her reputation in Italy as a painter of peasant life and as the author of several volumes of prose and poetry on Italian life, under the name Francesca Alexander. Her illustrated book, Roadside Songs of Tuscany" (1885), a collection of Italian songs, was very popular. She was known for her charitable activities.

Sources: G&W; Alexander, Francesca Alexander; Spielman, "Francesca Alexander and 'The Roadside Songs of Tuscany,'" with repros.; Swan, BA, 195; Pierce, "Francis Alexander." More recently, see Rubinstein, American Women Artists 72; Petteys, Dictionary of Women Artists.