Alexander Day (c. 1751 – 12 January 1841) was a

miniature painter A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...

and

art dealer An art dealer is a person or company that buys and sells works of art, or acts as the intermediary between the buyers and sellers of art. An art dealer in contemporary art typically seeks out various artists to represent, and builds relationsh ...

. Born in Britain, he worked chiefly in Rome.

Biography

Alexander Day was born c. 1751. He trained with the portrait-painter

Ozias Humphry Ozias Humphry (or Humphrey) (8 September 1742 – 9 March 1810) was a leading English painter of portrait miniatures, later oils and pastels, of the 18th century. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1791, and in 1792 he was appointed ''P ...

. In 1774 Day travelled to Rome, where he would remain for some forty years, associating with other British and continental artists, such as James Nevay, Thomas Jones, Angelica Kauffman and

Vincenzo Pacetti Vincenzo Pacetti (1746–1820) was an Italian sculptor and restorer from Castel Bolognese, particularly active in collecting and freely restoring and completing classical sculptures such as the Barberini Faun (1799 – now in the Glyptothek, Mun ...

, and selling Old Master paintings and his own miniatures to British visitors, such as Frederick Augustus Hervey,

Richard Worsley General Sir Richard Edward Worsley (29 May 1923 – 23 February 2013) was a senior British Army officer who fought in the Second World War and later commanded 1st (British) Corps. Early life Worsley was born on 29 May 1923 at Ballywalter ...

and Philip Yorke. He bought many paintings from the dealer Pietro Cammuccini and sold them on to British collectors. In 1800 Day returned to Britain, where he exhibited many works by old masters, which were sold into the collections of

John Julius Angerstein John Julius Angerstein (1735 – 22 January 1823) was a London businessman and Lloyd's underwriter, a patron of the fine arts and a collector. It was the prospect that his collection of paintings was about to be sold by his estate in 182 ...

and others. He returned to Italy in 1802, and in that year sent more paintings and contemporary sculpture to London for sale. In 1815 Day returned to Britain permanently. He shared a house with the gem-engraver Nathaniel Marchant. When Marchant died in 1816, Day married Marchant's housekeeper, to whom Marchant had left £9,000. Domine, quo vadis

Among the paintings sold by Day were

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italian (Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, nea ...

's ''Rape of Ganymede'' and ''Venus and Adonis'',

Raphael Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

's '' St. Catherine'' and the ''Madonna, Infant Christ, and St. John'' (the ''

Garvagh Madonna The ''Garvagh Madonna'' (also known as the ''Aldobrandini Madonna'') is an oil painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael, dating to . It depicts the Virgin, the Christ Child and the infant John the Baptist, and is one of many paintings ...

''),Exhibited, with other Italian paintings in Day's possession and the cast of one of the Monte Cavallo horsemen, carried out under Day's supervision, in the Mews gallery at

Carlton House Carlton House was a mansion in Westminster, best known as the town residence of King George IV. It faced the south side of Pall Mall, and its gardens abutted St James's Park in the St James's district of London. The location of the house, no ...

, 1815 (described in ''The New Monthly Magazine'' 1 November 1815, p339f.

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

's ''Christ disputing with the Doctors'',

Domenichino Domenico Zampieri (, ; October 21, 1581 – April 6, 1641), known by the diminutive Domenichino (, ) after his shortness, was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School of painters. Life Domenichino was born in Bologna, son of a sho ...

's ''St. Jerome and the Angel'',

Annibale Carracci Annibale Carracci (; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother and cousin, Annibale was one of the progenitors, if not founders of a leading strand of th ...

's '' Christ appearing to Simon Peter after his Resurrection'', and

Gaspard Poussin Gaspard Dughet (15 June 1615 – 25 May 1675), also known as Gaspard Poussin, was a French painter born in Rome. Life Dughet was born in Rome, the son of a French pastry-cook and his Italian wife. He has always generally been considered as a F ...

's ''Landscape with Abraham and Isaac'', which are now in the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...

. His portrait miniatures of ladies are particularly graceful. Day purchased from the Borghese collection

's ''Temptation of St Anthony'', and, in 1792

Andrea Mantegna Andrea Mantegna (, , ; September 13, 1506) was an Italian painter, a student of Roman archeology, and son-in-law of Jacopo Bellini. Like other artists of the time, Mantegna experimented with perspective, e.g. by lowering the horizon in order ...

's ''Adoration of the Shepherds'', which William Buchanan sold to

Richard Payne Knight Richard Payne Knight (11 February 1751 – 23 April 1824) of Downton Castle in Herefordshire, and of 5 Soho Square,History of Parliament biography London, England, was a classical scholar, connoisseur, archaeologist and numismatist best ...

at Downton Castle. Day died in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, London, on 12 January 1841. An anonymous pencil portrait of Alexander Day may be seen at the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

Biography

References

Further reading