Henry Allan (painter)
Henry Allan was an Irish painter.
He was born at Retreat House, Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland, the youngest son of William Allan and his wife Anne. He studied art in Belfast and Dublin, and continued his art education in Antwerp, alongside contemporary Richard Moynan. He won multiple prizes at the Antwerp Academy as well as the Taylor Prize at the Royal Dublin Society.
He returned to Ireland in 1889 and lived for a year or two in Downpatrick, County Down, before moving to Dublin. He began exhibiting at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1889 with a painting entitled Country Road near Antwerp. His work, The Little Matchseller, was awarded the Albert Prize at the RHA in 1893. He also painted local scenes around Dublin and County Down as well as portraits, studio pieces and figure studies.
Allan's work is extremely rare on the market today and it may be that most of his work has been destroyed. The National Gallery of Ireland holds one example, A Dutch Interior, which was included in 'The Irish Impressionists' exhibition in 1984. The gallery's website notes that the style of this work, shows the influence of his training in Antwerp, "but the earthy colour range also invites comparison with the work of The Hague School".
