Louis Alexander Fagan

Louis Alexander Fagan (7 February 1845 – 5 January 1903) was an Anglo-Italian writer and artist. He worked in the Department of Prints and Drawings for the British Museum from 1869 to 1894, and wrote various books on the department. A painting of him by John Singer Sargent sold at auction for $118,750 in 2020.

Louis Alexander Fagan was born in 1845 in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to George Fagan and his wife Maria, their second son out of three sons and four daughters. His grandfather was Robert Fagan, a painter, diplomat and archaeologist. His younger brother, Charles Edward Fagan, later became the secretary of the Natural History Department at the British Museum. In 1860, he was sent to England by a Queen's Messenger and was taken care of by Sir Anthony Panizzi, a friend of his father's who he would later write a biography on.

In 1869, Fagan began working at the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum and in 1875, he was recorded to have a salary of £215 (£32,000 in today's money) for his role "act[ing] as Assistant Keeper in the Print Room". In 1881, Thom's Irish Almanac and Official Directory of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland listed him as "Assistant, Second Class...(acting Assistant Keeper)". In 1882, the Post Office London Directory, 1882 recorded him as the same.

In 1893, John Singer Sargent painted a 30.25x25.125 inch oil on canvas portrait of Fagan, which was sold in 2020 at Doyle's for $118, 750

In his lifetime he wrote 92 articles for the original 1985-1900 Dictionary of National Biography.

He retired in 1894 from ill health, and on 5 January 1903, he died in Florence. His painting was donated by his wife to the Reform Club in 1911.

On 8 November 1887, he married Caroline Frances Purves.

Handbook to the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum (1876)