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

by Jared Bradley Flagg

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108074513
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	12/11/2014
Series:	Cambridge Library Collection - Art and Architecture
Pages:	496
Product dimensions:	6.69(w) x 9.61(h) x 0.98(d)

Table of Contents

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.