Biographies

He was born in Glasgow, the son of a publisher, and first studied art in that city, before going to Paris in 1875 and working at the atelier of Julian and under Cabanel at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He moved to London in 1881 and settled there, though he traveled widely and painted what he saw, specializing in landscapes.

He spent some time painting in St. Ives, Cornwall, and he also liked to work in other places on the sea. Charles St. John praised a painting of his in The New Age, saying, “R. W. Allan’s The Wild North Sea is a rich sympathetic picture of grey rough weather.”NA 4:14 288. He was an Associate of the Royal Watercolour Society.

Autumn Evening
— Allan, Robert Weir

Boulter’s Lock on the Thames
— Allan, Robert Weir

Lahore
— Allan, Robert Weir

The Acropolis
— Allan, Robert Weir

The Ebbing Tide
— Allan, Robert Weir