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{{short description|English painter}}

'''Charles Allston Collins''' ([[January 25]], [[1828]] – [[April 9]], [[1873]]) was a British painter and writer associated with the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood]].

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}

Collins was born in [[Hampstead]], London, the son of the well-known landscape and genre painter [[William Collins (painter)|William Collins]]. His older brother was the novelist [[Wilkie Collins]]. Collins met [[John Everett Millais]] and became influenced by the ideas of the Pre-Raphaelites, completing his painting ''Berengeria's Alarm'' in 1850. This depicted the wife of [[Richard I of England|King Richard the Lionheart]] noticing her missing husband's girdle offered for sale by a peddlar. The flattened modelling, emphasis on pattern making, and imagery of embroidery were all characteristic features of Pre-Raphaelitism. Millais proposed that Collins should become a member of the Brotherhood, but [[Thomas Woolner]] and [[William Michael Rossetti]] objected, so he never became an official member.

[[File:Charles Allston Collins.jpg|thumb|{{center|Charles Allston Collins by [[John Everett Millais]] in 1850}}]]

[[image:ConventThoughtsCollins.jpg|thumb|''Convent Thoughts'' (1850–51; [[Ashmolean Museum|Ashmolean Museum, Oxford]]]]

'''Charles Allston Collins''' ([[January 25London]], [[25 January 1828]] –– 9 [[April 9]], [[1873]]) was a British painter, writer, and writerillustrator associated with the [[Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood]].

==Life and work==

Collins fell in love with [[Maria Rossetti]], but she rejected him. He became increasingly ascetic and introspective. These attitudes were expressed in Collins's best-known work, ''Convent Thoughts'', which depicted a nun in a convent garden. Collins went on to exhibit many highly devotional images. In the late 1850s, however, he abandoned art to follow his brother into a writing career. His most successful works were humorous essays collected together under the title ''The Eye Witness'' (1860).

===Early years===

Collins was born in [[Hampstead]], north London, the son of landscape and genre painter [[William Collins (painter)|William Collins]]. His older brother was the novelist [[Wilkie Collins]]. He was educated at [[Stonyhurst College]] in [[Lancashire]].

===Painting career===

Collins married [[Charles Dickens]]'s daughter Kate in 1860, later designing the cover for Dickens' unfinished novel [[The Mystery of Edwin Drood]]. He died in 1873 and is buried in [[Brompton Cemetery]], London.

Collins was born in [[Hampstead]], London, the son of the well-known landscape and genre painter [[William Collins (painter)|William Collins]]. His older brother was the novelist [[Wilkie Collins]]. Collins met [[John Everett Millais]] and became influenced by the ideas of the Pre-Raphaelites, completing his painting ''Berengeria[[Berengaria of Navarre|Berengaria's Alarm]]'' in 1850. This depicted the wife of [[Richard I of England|King Richard the Lionheart]] noticing her missing husband's girdle offered for sale by a peddlar. The flattened modelling, emphasis on pattern making, and imagery of embroidery were all characteristic features of Pre-Raphaelitism. Millais proposed that Collins should become a member of the Brotherhood, but [[Thomas Woolner]] and [[William Michael Rossetti]] objected, so he never became an official member.

Collins fell in love with [[Maria Francesca Rossetti]], but she rejected him. He became increasingly ascetic and introspective. These attitudes were expressed in Collins's best-known work, ''[[Convent Thoughts]]'', which depicted a nun in a convent garden. Collins went on to exhibit many highly devotional images. In the late 1850s, however, he abandoned art to follow his brother into a writing career. His most successful works were humorous essays collected together under the title ''The Eye Witness'' (1860).

===Literary career===

In the late 1850s, however, he abandoned art to follow his brother into a writing career. His most successful literary works were humorous essays collected together under the title ''The Eye Witness'' (1860).

===Later life===

Collins married [[Charles Dickens]]'s daughter [[Kate Perugini|Kate]] in 1860, and later designingwas theengaged coverto forillustrate Dickens's unfinished novel ''[[The Mystery of Edwin Drood]]''. He completed the cover but was too ill to do the rest. He died from cancer in 1873 and is buried in [[Brompton Cemetery]], London.<ref>[[Lucinda Hawksley]], ''Katey: The Life and Loves of Dickens's Artist Daughter'', New York, Doubleday, 2006.</ref> He was 45 years old.

==See also==

*[[List of Pre-Raphaelite paintings]]

==Further reading==

*{{cite DNB|wstitle=Collins, Charles Allston|volume=11|page=366}}

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==External links==

{{commons category}}

* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10567271 Charles Collins' Gravesite]

*[http://www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/collins_charles_allston.html C A Collins online] (ArtCyclopedia)

*[http://www.wilkie-collins.info/family_charles.htm C A Collins biography] ("Wilkie Collins' Family")

*{{Find a Grave|10567271}}

*{{Art UK bio}}

[[Category:{{Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|Collins, Charles Allston]]}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:English painters|Collins, Charles Allston]]

[[Category:English writers|Collins, Charles Allston]]

[[Category:Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood|Collins, Charles Allston]]

[[Category:1828 births|Collins, Charles Allston]]

[[Category:1873 deaths|Collins, Charles Allston]]

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[[Category:English writers|Collins, Charles Allston]]

[[Category:Pre-Raphaelite painters]]

[[Category:1828 births|Collins, Charles Allston]]

[[Category:1873 deaths|Collins, Charles Allston]]

[[Category:Burials at Brompton Cemetery]]

[[Category:People educated at Stonyhurst College]]

[[Category:19th-century English painters]]

[[Category:English male painters|Collins, Charles Allston]]

[[Category:19th-century English male artists]]

[[Category:Pre-Raphaelite illustrators]]

[[Category:English fantasy writers]]

[[Category:Collins family (England)]]

[[Category:Dickens family]]