The Life and Letters of Washington Allston
With Reproductions from Allston's Pictures

This 1893 biography of American painter Washington Allston throws light on the artist, his works, and his milieu.

Jared Bradley Flagg (Author)

9781108074513, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 December 2014

496 pages, 19 b/w illus.
24.4 x 17 x 2.5 cm, 0.78 kg

Washington Allston (1779–1843) was considered by many at the time to be the greatest painter yet produced by the United States. After four years at Harvard, where he made an impression with his poetry, he went to London and became a pupil of the artist Benjamin West. On a tour of the continent, he met Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Rome, painted his portrait and became his firm friend. After a period at home, during which he married, Allston returned to London, and through Coleridge met Wordsworth, Southey, and the earl of Egremont, the great patron of artists, especially J. W. M. Turner. In this environment of intellectual and artistic experiment, Allston created paintings on religious, literary and historical topics, with an emphasis on landscape and contrasts of light and dark. This 1893 biography by his nephew and pupil Jared Bradley Flagg (1820–99) throws light on the artist, his works, and his milieu.

Dedication
Preface
1. Allston's parentage
2. Allston's college life at Cambridge
3. Return to Charleston
4. First impressions of London
5. With Vanderlyn in Paris
6. Irving in Allston's studio
7. Letter from Coleridge
8. Painting and purchase of 'The Angel Releasing St Peter from Prison'
9. 'The Dead Man Revived'
10. The portrait of Coleridge
11. Mrs Allston's death
12. Sale of 'The Dead Man Revived'
13. Allston's second visit to Paris
14. Allston's final return to America
15. Letters of the year 1819
16. Letters of 1820 to 1824
17. Letters by Henry Greenough
18. Letters from 1826 to 1830
19. Correspondence between Allston and Verplanck
20. The 'Jeremiah'
21. Letter from Edward Everett
22. Vindication of Allston against accusations of indolence
23. Letters from 1835 to 1838
24. Mrs Jameson's praise of the Allston exhibition
25. Allston's letters during the last years of his life
26. Death of Allston
27. First inspection of 'Belshazzar'
28. Recollections of Allston
29. Letters on Allston
30. Letters from Horatio Greenough
31. Allston's poetry and other literary work
32. Allston's originality
Index.

Subject Areas: The arts: general issues [AB]