Washington Allston Biography
Washington Allston was an American painter and poet from the 18th century. He was born in 1779 in Waccamaw Parish, South Carolina and he is well known as the one who pioneered the American Romantic movement of landscape painting. He was best known and criticized for his courage of experimenting with dramatic subject matter while using color and light at the same time.
According to the Washington Allston biography, the poet was born on a rice plantation in South Carolina in a wealthy family. It is believed that his name was chosen as to honor the leading American general of the Revolution. He attended Harvard College which he graduated in 1800 and then moved to Charleston for a short period of time. In 1801 he sailed to England where he attended the Royal Academy in London. During the 1803-1808 period Washington Allston visited Paris and Italy for inspiration of the great museums. In Rome he met his lifelong friend Coleridge but also Washington Irving. A year later he got married to Ann Channing. He then started teaching art and was the teacher of Samuel FB Morse. In 1811 he started travelling through Western Europe again and he was accompanied by his pupil for most of the time. He finally settled in London where he began to gain prizes and popularity for his pictures.
Washington Allston was not only a lover of painted art, but also of poetry. His written work was firstly published in 1813 in London and was called ‘The Sylphs of the Seasons with Other Poems’. Two years later his wife died and the events left him homesick for America, where he returned in 1818. He lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts and he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Washington Allston died in 1843 and he was buried in Harvard Square.