Henry Alexander

Henry Alexander (1860 – May 15, 1894) was an American painter from San Francisco. He left San Francisco for New York City in 1887, but he suffered from recurring money troubles and alcoholism. On May 15, 1894, his money troubles led him to commit suicide by swallowing oxalic acid in the Oriental Hotel Following his death, many of his works were destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. After early exhibiting a talent for drawing and painting, he went to study at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich, where his teachers were Ludwig von Loeffts and the history painter Wilhelm Lindenschmidt.

Aside from a few trompe-l'œil paintings, his paintings generally depict individuals within highly detailed interiors. He is especially known for his paintings of men in cluttered offices filled with business furnishings or laboratory equipment, such as his several paintings of the mineralogist Thomas Price.

Many of his works were destroyed in the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.

List of paintings Morning Prayer Sunday Afternoon Scene from 'The Mikado' with Louise Paullin Lost Genius First Lesson Neglecting Business (Playing Chess), 1887 (now in the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco) The Letter Home Lesson in Gunning The Cap Makers (as of 1892, in the collection of Thomas D. Clark) Sunday Morning (as of 1892, in the collection of Thomas D. Clark) Interesting Game (as of 1892, in the collection of Thomas D. Clark) The Hebrew Orphan Asylum (the painter's favorite) In the Laboratory (painted 1885–87; a portrait of the San Francisco assayer Thomas Price; in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, purchased 1939, item number 39.46)