Washington Allston facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Washington Allston
Self-portrait, 1805 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Born	(1779-11-05)November 5, 1779 Near Georgetown, South Carolina
Died	July 9, 1843(1843-07-09) (aged 63) Cambridge, Massachusetts
Nationality	American
Known for	Painting Poetry
Spouse(s)	Ann Channing (1809–15) Margaret Remington Dana (1830-43)

Washington Allston (born November 5, 1779 – died July 9, 1843) was an American painter and poet. He was born in Waccamaw Parish, South Carolina. Allston helped start America's Romantic movement in landscape painting.

During his life, he was famous for trying new things with dramatic subjects. He also used light and color in a very bold way. His early paintings showed grand and impressive parts of nature. Later, his art became more personal and imaginative.

His Life Story

Allston painted by Gilbert Stuart, around 1818. This painting is at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Washington Allston was born on a rice farm near Georgetown, South Carolina. His mother, Rachel Moore, married Captain William Allston in 1775. Sadly, his father died in 1781. Later, his mother married Dr. Henry C. Flagg.

Allston was named after George Washington, a famous American general. He finished his studies at Harvard College in 1800. After a short time in Charleston, South Carolina, he sailed to England in May 1801.

In September, he joined the Royal Academy of Arts in London. The famous painter Benjamin West was the president there. From 1803 to 1808, Allston visited museums in Paris. Then, he spent several years in Italy. In Italy, he met Washington Irving in Rome. He also met Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who became his friend for life.

In 1809, Allston married Ann Channing. She was the sister of William Ellery Channing. Samuel Morse, who invented the telegraph, was one of Allston's art students. Morse traveled with Allston to Europe in 1811. After seeing much of Europe, Allston settled in London. There, he became famous and won awards for his paintings.

Allston was also a writer. In 1813, he published a book of poems called The Sylphs of the Seasons, with Other Poems. It was published in London and then in Boston later that year. His wife died in February 1815. This made him very sad and lonely. He also missed America a lot.

In 1818, he returned to the United States. He lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for 25 years. In 1826, he became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His nephews, George Whiting Flagg and Jared Bradley Flagg, also became artists. They both learned painting from him.

The first public show of Allston's art in America was in 1827. Twelve of his paintings were shown at the Boston Athenæum.

In 1830, Allston married Martha Remington Dana. She was the sister of the writer Richard Henry Dana, Sr.. Martha was also a cousin of Allston's first wife.

In 1841, he published a story called Monaldi. It was a romance about life in Italy. In 1850, a book of his Lectures on Art, and Poems was published.

Allston passed away on July 9, 1843, when he was 63 years old. He is buried in Harvard Square. His grave is in "the Old Burying Ground." This cemetery is between the First Parish Church and Christ Church.

Allston was buried in the Dana family plot in the Old Burying Ground.

How He Was Recognized

Allston was sometimes called the "American Titian". Titian was a great artist from Venice during the Italian Renaissance. Allston's style was similar to Titian's because he used strong, dramatic colors. His art greatly helped shape how landscape painting developed in the U.S.

Many of his paintings were inspired by literature. He often painted scenes from the Bible. Famous people admired his artistic talent. Samuel Taylor Coleridge loved his work. Ralph Waldo Emerson was also greatly influenced by Allston's paintings and poems. So were Margaret Fuller and Sophia Peabody, who was the wife of Nathaniel Hawthorne.

A well-known critic named Rufus Wilmot Griswold dedicated his famous poetry book, The Poets and Poetry of America, to Allston in 1842. The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote about Allston 17 years after he died. He said that Allston's memory was like a sweet smell that filled the air.

The Boston painter William Morris Hunt also admired Allston's art. In 1866, he started the Allston Club in Boston. In his art classes, Hunt taught his students about Allston's painting methods.

The neighborhood of Allston in west Boston is named after him.

Florimell's Flight, 1819

Gallery

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  Landscape with Lake (1804)

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  Italian Landscape

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  Elijah in the Desert, 1818, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

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  Storm Rising at Sea, 1804, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

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  Moonlit Landscape, 1809, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

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  Coast Scene on the Mediterranean, 1811, Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, South Carolina

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  The Poor Author and the Rich Bookseller, 1811

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  Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1814, Dove Cottage, Wordsworth Museum, Grasmere, England

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  Donna Mencia in the Robber's Cavern, 1815

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  Hermia and Helena, (from A Midsummer Night's Dream) from c. 1818

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  Beatrice, 1819, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

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  The Spanish Girl in Reverie, 1831

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  Two Artists in the Old Library, Washington Allston's Picture, 'Jacob's Dream', Hanging over the Fireplace ('The Artist and the Amateur'), J. M. W. Turner, 1827

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  Portrait of William Ellery Channing

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  Scene from Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew" (Katharina and Petruchio)

See also

In Spanish: Washington Allston para niños