He was born in Georgetown, South Carolina, and in 1800 he graduated from the prestigious Harvard College in Boston. From 1800 to 1818, from the exception of three years that he spent in Boston, he moved to Europe and traveled there, where he absorbed a romantic classicism that was a reference for numerous painters who followed him. One of the most important steps of his journey in Europe was in London. He studied at the Royal Academy with Benjamin West where he found the possibility to travel and paint with John Vanderlyn. In 1805, he settled in Rome till 1808, and befriended Washington Irving, Samuel Coleridge and other popular Romantic Americans living abroad. In England, where he was recognized as one of the most impressive history painters, he excelled in Biblical themes rather than in the classical subjects he had painted in Italy. A curious issue that mined his productivity was years of struggle on "Belshazzar's Feast", a large painting begun in 1817 thanks to the ten-thousand dollar subscription of ten wealthy Americans. However, he never completed it. As said, By 1818 he came back and settled in Boston, where he was acclaimed as the nation's top artist. Anyway, the demand for history painting was minimal, and he performed smaller works, some figural and landscape, that he romanticized. Allston achieved an international reputation as painter, poet and art philosopher of romantic period. His style was dark, wild and loftly, and he showed it clearly in his paintings. His way influenced other American artists and his travel abroad encouraged many of them to study in Europe. He also was a figure that showed to the 'old world' that United States artists were not disreputable artisans but respectable romantic, poetics and idealists. His place in American art history is hard to understand, by the way. His styles turned from classicism into romanticism, and his subject matter and painting attitude was wide ranging. What we can say for sure is that he had tremendous impact on succeeding generations of artists, American and European, who followed his style for its refined sensibilities and serious, professional touch.

Works

Moonlit Landscape, 1819. Oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Ship in a Squall (before 1837). Oil on canvas, Fogg Art Museum.