Sir William Allan

Bio

Sir William Allan began his career as an apprentice to a carriage painter though he was soon accepted to the Royal Academy of Edinburgh. There he befriended David Wilkie and the engraver John Burnet; all would become important artistic figures. Allan did not wait long before seeking his fortune in London where he adopted the style of the English painter John Opie, which he employed in his painting Young Bohemian Girl that was sent to an Exposition at the Royal Academy. Initially unsuccessful in London, the artist soon left for Saint Petersburg. He toured the interiors of the Russian and Turkish Empires recording a great number of studies he would use in later Orientalist paintings. In 1809 he sent a painting to the Royal Academy representing Russian Peasants on their Day of Rest, a view of the Russian countryside. When Allan returned to London in 1814 his paintings Circassian Captives and A Circassian Chief selling a Turkish Pacha the Captives Belonging to a Neighboring Tribe, Abducted During the War, subjects he had witnessed first hand on his voyage east, were ill-received at the Royal Academy.