The Biographical Dictionary of America/Allston, Washington

ALLSTON, Washington, artist, was born at Brook Green Domain, in the district of Waccamaw, S. C, Nov. 5, 1779. When seven years of age he was sent to Newport, R. I., to prepare for college, and was graduated from Harvard in 1800. His talent for drawing manifested itself at an early age, and his chief pleasure was in drawing and sketching. His first essay at painting was a portrait of the eldest son of Dr. Waterhouse, professor of medicine at Harvard college; and this was followed by portraits of four members of the Channing family. He had no regular instructor in drawing or painting until after he went abroad in May, 1801. He studied in England at the Royal academy, and afterwards visited Paris, and then Rome, where he remained for several years, during which time he gained for himself a high reputation as a colorist. He was called the "American Titian," because of the wonderful wealth and harmony of his magical color combinations. In 1809 he returned to America and married Ann Channing, a sister of William Ellery Channing. After spending two years in America, he sailed for England in 1811, and established himself in London, where he entered upon a career of uninterrupted prosperity. Many of his pupils became artists of note; and he painted a number of subjects of great merit, among them: "Uriel in the Sun," "Jacob's Feast," and "The Dead Man Revived by Touching the Bones of Elijah," a picture which took a prize of two hundred guineas from the British institute, and was afterwards bought by the Philadelphia academy. His work at this period shows "high imaginative power, and a rare mastery of color, light and shade." He was most influenced and inspired by the Italian masters, though his principal teachers were West and Reynolds. In 1818 he returned to America, and established a studio in Boston, moving some years later to Cambridgeport, where he spent the remainder of his life. In 1819 he was made associate of the Royal academy. His second wife, whom he married in 1830, was a sister of Richard H. Dana. The choicest of his works during this period are in Boston, some belonging to the Museum of fine arts, and some to the private collections of the older families of the city. His "Spanish Girl," "Spalatro's Vision of the Bloody Hand," "The Death of King John," "Jeremiah," "The Witch of Endor," "Miriam and Rosalie," are best known in America. His "Belshazzar's Feast," a most ambitious undertaking, was left unfinished at his death, and became the property of the Boston Athenæum. Allston's writings display much talent, and his works in both prose and poetry have been highly praised by critics. His "America to Great Britain" was declared by Charles Sumner to be "one of the choicest lyrics in the language," and it was incorporated in "Sybilline Leaves." Some of his other works are: "The Sylphs of the Seasons," a poem read before the Phi Beta Kappa at Cambridge, and published in 1813; "The Paint King" and the "Two Painters," "Monaldi," a romance of Italian life (1841); "Lectures on Art and Poems" (1850). See "Ware's Lectures on the Works and Genius of Washington Allston" (Boston, 1852); and "Artist Biographies, Allston," by M. F. Sweetzer (Boston, 1879). He died in Cambridge, Mass., July 9, 1843.