Eveline Marie Alexander

Little biographical information has survived about this amateur painter in oil and watercolour, known for her sleighing scenes. The daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Cornwallis Michell (1793-1851) of the Royal Artillery, Lady Eveline Marie Alexander (née Michell) may have learned to draw and paint from her father, who was military drawing master at the Royal Military College. In 1837, she married Sir James Edward Alexander at the Cape of Good Hope; they had five children. She joined him on his Canadian tour of duty from 1841-49 when he served with the 14th Regiment of Foot and was aide-de-camp to Sir Benjamin D'Urban and Sir William Rowan. While in Canada, she made a sketch of a military steeplechase in London, Ontario which was later lithographed. Her prints can be found in the John Ross Robertson Collection, Toronto Public Library, and the W.H. Coverdale Collection, Manoir Richelieu, Quebec (now Warnock-Hersey Co., Montreal).