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Early Life

Margaret Allen (1830/32 - 26 March 1914) was an Irish portrait painter who paved the way for many future female artists in Ireland and the United Kingdom. Born in Ireland between the years of 1830 and 1832, most of her childhood and early life education remains a mystery to many . Allen was raised in a Dublin based family, as a member of the Church of Ireland . She was the daughter of Mark Allen, granddaughter of William Allen Senior, and a sister to Harriet Allen.

Family

12 Westland Row

Allen's Dublin based family, whose home and work address was 12 Westland Row, was a generationally artistic family. Allen, her father, and grandfather all contributed to the greater Irish art community throughout the nineteenth century. Her grandfather, William Allen Senior ran his business at 32 Dame Street, dedicated to crafting illustrative and print materials such as maps and books. . As an active member of society, Allen Senior joined the Royal Dublin Society and had ties to the Dublin Society’s drawing school . Similarly, her father, Mark Allen sold picture frames and art products at his shop on 12 Westland Row. In addition to running the business, he became one of Dublin’s very few carte de visite photographers . Furthermore, Allen’s sister, Harriet, briefly helped with the family business after her father’s death. Shortly after taking on this role, she married Edward Williams and the couple moved to Manchester, where Allen would later join them.

Early Career and Education

Allen received an education in Paris prior to becoming a well known artist. While studying in France, she continued to develop her natural artistic skills that would later help her flourish in her career. In addition to becoming a successful artist, Allen started her Academy of Drawing and Painting where she tutored individuals in the key painting techniques that she had picked up from her education . In 1853, just under a decade before releasing some of her most famous work to the Royal Hibernian Academy, she made her first donation of two unnamed paintings to the RHA.