Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 8.djvu/63

Rh country still semi-barbarous, and but imperfectly known in general society, and where the Fine Arts seemed to have little chance of a cordial reception, amidst the recent, and as yet, imperfect civilization of the people. The boldness of his choice also was fully matched by scantiness of means for its execution; for he knew nothing of the Russ language, was slenderly provided with money, and had only one or two letters of introduction to some of his countrymen in St. Petersburg.

Thus inadequately equipped, the artist-adventurer threw himself into that bold career which was ultimately to lead to fame and fortune. Even the commencement was attended with a startling omen; for the ship in which he embarked for Riga was tossed about by adverse winds, and at length driven almost a wreck into Memel. Thus, contrary to his purpose, Allan found himself the temporary inhabitant of a sea-port town in Prussia, in the midst of a people to whose tongue he was a stranger, and with pecuniary resources which a few days would have exhausted. Still, however, his stout heart triumphed over the difficulty. Having settled himself at an inn, he commenced in due form the occupation of portrait painter, and had for his first sitter the Danish consul, to whom he had been introduced by the captain of the vessel that brought him to Memel. Other sitters followed; and having thus recruited his exhausted purse, he resumed his original purpose of travelling to Russia, which he did by land, passing on his way to St. Petersburg through a considerable part of the Russian army, which was at that time on its march to the fatal field of Austerlitz. At St. Petersburg, he found an effectual patron in his countryman, Sir Alexander Crichton, physician to the imperial family, to whom he was warmly recommended by Colonel Crichton, the physician's brother, one of his early patrons in Scotland, and by Sir Alexander he was introduced to an extensive and fashionable circle of society, where his artistic talents were appreciated, and his opportunities for their improvement furthered. To accomplish that improvement, indeed, was so strongly the desire of his ardent enthusiastic mind, that neither the motives of personal comfort and safety, nor the attractive society of the Russian capital, could withhold him from a course of adventurous self-denying travel. He therefore repaired to the Ukraine, where he resided for several years, studying the wild scenery of the steppes, and the still wilder costume and manners of its inhabitants, with a fearless and observant eye. He also made occasional journeys to Turkey and Tartary, as well as to the remote dependencies of the Russian empire, dwelling in the hut of the barbarian serf, or the tent of the wandering nomade, as well as the palace of the boyar and the emir; and amidst the picturesque tribes of the east and north, with whom he thus freely fraternized, he enjoyed a daily intercourse with those whom his less adventurous brethren at home are contented to delineate from the narratives of the traveller or the waking dreams of the studio. The large collection which Allan made of the dresses, armour, weapons, and utensils of the various communities among whom he sojourned, and the life-like ease and fidelity of form, feature, and costume, by which the figures of his principal paintings are distinguished, attest how carefully and how completely he had identified himself with Russian, Turk, and Pole, with Cossack, Circassian, and Bashkir. It is much to be regretted that no journal appears to have been kept by the artist of the many stirring scenes he witnessed, and the strange adventures he underwent in this novel pilgrimage in quest of the sublime and the beautiful. That they were pregnant with interest and