The New Student's Reference Work/Allston, Washington
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Allston (awl' ston), Washington, (born 1779, died 1843), an American historical painter and poet. A native of South Carolina, he was graduated at Harvard in 1800. He pursued the study of his art in Charleston, London, Paris and Rome. During his studies he formed a close friendship with the great painter, Benjamin West, and also with Coleridge and Thorwaldsen. He practised his profession mainly at Boston and Cambridge. Allston was of a deeply religious nature, and many of his pictures are scenes from the Bible. As a writer, he was also eminent. His friend Coleridge says of him that he was surpassed by no man of his age in artistic and poetic genius.