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= Henry Allan (painter) =

Early life in Ireland
Henry Allan was born 18 June 1865 at Retreat House, Dundalk, Co. Louth. He was the youngest son of William and Anne Allan. William Allan was a distiller in Bachelor’s Walk in Dundalk, while Anne Allan was the daughter of Rev. Solomon Browne, who was a Presbyterian minister in Castledawson in Co. Derry. Allan began his training as an artist in Belfast and Dublin. Between 1882 and 1883, he studied at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art alongside artist, Roderic O’Conor. O’Conor is considered as one of the best Irish artists and his work is on display across various museums worldwide.

Years in Antwerp (1884-1888)
At eighteen years of age, in May 1884, Allan enrolled in a summer course at the Académie Royale in Antwerp, Belgium. He was joined by O’Conor and Richard T. Moynan who also studied at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art, however he studied there in 1879 prior to Allan. While in Antwerp, Allan shared lodgings with other Irish students such as Moynan and Edwin Hill near the college at no.15 Mutsaerstraat, later moving to no.19. There was a large presence of young Irish artists at the academy in the 1880s, which enabled Allan to work alongside other artists such as Dermod O’Brien. While Allan and O'Brien were both the same age, they attended the same life class at the Académie Royale, which were taught by Charles Verlat. Vincent van Gogh was briefly a student at the Académie Royale between 1885 and early 1886. Van Gogh wrote a letter in English while in Paris in 1886 to English painter H. M. Livens which was incorrectly dated as 1887, and refers to Livens as 'Levens'. In this letter, he asked to be remembered to 'Allan', and the index to The Complete Letters of Vincent van Gogh states 'H. Allan.', likely referring to Henry Allan. Allan returned to Ireland in 1888 as opposed to many of his Irish colleagues in Antwerp who went on to pursue painting in France.

Legacy
Allan's legacy as an artist has been relatively unknown, which can be accredited to the lack of paintings by Allan which can be found today, which may be due to much of his work being destroyed. One painting that is known is called A Dutch Interior (1888), which depicts an old man studying a silver goblet in an antique shop. Furthermore, this painting provides proof of Allan's training at the Académie Royale des Beaux Arts. The second known painting is The Rag Pickers (1884-5) which has been described as a "striking work". It shows two witchlike women wearing black clothes, one of whom is pointing at a group of figures at a beach behind her. He reportedly won a prize for his painting, The Little Match-seller in 1893, however its whereabouts are unknown today. Other known paintings by Allan include:


 * Lagan brook, County Louth (1880)
 * "Dawn", Dublin Hills (1904)
 * Old Trees, Herbert Park (1907)
 * Banna Villa, Ranelagh (n.d.)
 * Chickens by a Cottage (n.d.)
 * Martial Law - An Episode of the Irish Rebellion in 1798 (n.d.)
 * The Holy Women and St John with the Body of our Lord (n.d.)
 * Berchem-near Antwerp (n.d.)
 * The Rue de Steen, Antwerp (n.d.)
 * Mrs Kidney and Maureen (n.d.)
 * The Yellow Blouse (n.d.)
 * Dublin Ragpickers (n.d.)

A Dutch Interior was donated to the National Gallery of Ireland by Joseph Malachy Kavanagh in 1912 following Allan's death on the 2nd of September, 1912. A Dutch Interior is currently still on display in the National Gallery of Ireland while The Rag Pickers is part of a private collection. The whereabouts of other previously mentioned paintings remain unknown, however they have been likely auctioned off to private collectors or have been destroyed.