Washington Allston (1779-1843) was an early American Romantic painter and poet, often referred to as the "American Titian" due to his penchant for dramatic coloration. Born in Waccamaw Parish, South Carolina, Allston graduated from Harvard and traveled to London and Paris, immersing himself in the European art scene. Influenced by Romanticism, his paintings often evoke emotion and grandeur, with subjects ranging from biblical scenes to expansive landscapes. His masterpiece, "Belshazzar's Feast," remains an iconic example of his vision, although it was left unfinished at his death. Allston's influence extended beyond painting; his writings and theoretical ideas about art played a role in shaping the American Romantic movement, marking him as a multifaceted luminary of his time.
His artistic genius was much admired by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Ralph Waldo Emerson. Some years after Allston's death, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote: "One man may sweeten a whole time. I never pass through Cambridge Port without thinking of Allston. His memory is the quince in the drawer and perfumes the atmosphere." Allston's paintings have been widely exhibited in museums, most notably at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.