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Washington Allston
Washington Allston

Washington Allston

American, 1779-1843
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Washington Allston was an American painter and poet, born in Waccamaw Parish, South Carolina. Allston pioneered America's Romantic movement of landscape painting. He was well known during his lifetime for his experiments with dramatic subject matter and his bold use of light and atmospheric color. While his early artworks concentrate on grandiose and spectacular aspects of nature, his later pieces represent a more subjective and visionary approach.

Allston was born on a rice plantation on the Waccamaw River near Georgetown, South Carolina. His mother Rachel Moore had married Captain William Allston in 1775, though her husband died in 1781, shortly after the Battle of Cowpens. Moore remarried to Dr. Henry C. Flagg, the son of a wealthy shipping merchant from Newport, Rhode Island.

Named in honor of the leading American general of the Revolution, Washington Allston graduated from Harvard College in 1800 and moved to Charleston, South Carolina for a short time before sailing to England in May 1801. He was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools in London in September, when painter Benjamin West was then the president.

From 1803 to 1808, he visited the great museums of Paris and then, for several years, those of Italy, where he met Washington Irving in Rome and Coleridge, his lifelong friend. In 1809, Allston married Ann Channing, sister of William Ellery Channing. Samuel F. B. Morse was one of Allston's art pupils and accompanied Allston to Europe in 1811. After traveling throughout western Europe, Allston finally settled in London, where he won fame and prizes for his pictures.

Allston was also a published writer. In London in 1813, he published The Sylphs of the Seasons, with Other Poems, republished in Boston, Massachusetts, later that year. His wife died in February 1815, leaving him saddened, lonely, and homesick for America.

In 1818, he returned to the United States and lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for twenty-five years. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1826. He was the uncle of the artists George Whiting Flagg and Jared Bradley Flagg, both of whom studied painting under him.

The first American exhibition of Allston's work was in 1827 when twelve of his paintings were shown at the Boston Athenæum.

In 1830 Allston married Martha Remington Dana (daughter of Chief Justice Francis Dana), the sister of the novelist Richard Henry Dana; Dana was a cousin of Allston's first wife.

In 1841, he published Monaldi, a romance illustrating Italian life, and in 1850, a volume of his Lectures on Art, and Poems.

Allston died on July 9, 1843, at age 63. Allston is buried in Harvard Square, in "the Old Burying Ground" between the First Parish Church and Christ Church.

14 items

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Jeremiah Dictating His Prophecy of the Destruction of Jerusalem to Baruch the Scribe

Jeremiah Dictating His Prophecy of the Destruction of Jerusalem to Baruch the Scribe (1820)

Washington Allston (American, 1779-1843)
Religion
Hermia and Helena

Hermia and Helena (Before 1818)

Washington Allston (American, 1779-1843)
Mythology
A Landscape after Sunset

A Landscape after Sunset (c. 1819)

Washington Allston (American, 1779-1843)
Landscape
The Sisters

The Sisters (c. 1816-1817)

Washington Allston (American, 1779-1843)
Figurative
Elijah in the Desert

Elijah in the Desert (1818)

Washington Allston (American, 1779-1843)
Landscape
Italian Landscape

Italian Landscape

Washington Allston (American, 1779-1843)
Landscape
Samuel Williams

Samuel Williams (c. 1817)

Washington Allston (American, 1779-1843)
Figurative
Italian Shepherd Boy

Italian Shepherd Boy (1819)

Washington Allston (American, 1779-1843)
Figurative
Belshazzar’s Feast

Belshazzar’s Feast (between 1817 and 1843)

Washington Allston (American, 1779-1843)
Religion
The Flight of Florimell

The Flight of Florimell (1819)

Washington Allston (American, 1779-1843)
Mythology
Italian Landscape

Italian Landscape (between 1828 and 1830)

Washington Allston (American, 1779-1843)
Landscape
The Spanish Girl in Reverie

The Spanish Girl in Reverie (1831)

Washington Allston (American, 1779-1843)
Figurative
Mother Watching Her Child

Mother Watching Her Child (1814-1816)

Washington Allston (American, 1779-1843)
Figurative
Landscape, Evening

Landscape, Evening (1821)

Washington Allston (American, 1779-1843)
Landscape

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