Cunningham, Allan

Cunningham, Allan (b Keir parish, Dumfriesshire, 7 Dec. 1784; d London, 30 Oct. 1842). Scottish miscellaneous writer. He served an apprenticeship with his stonemason brother but turned to literature. His large output included a good deal on Scottish poetry, songs, and legends, notably an eight-volume edition (1834) of the works of Robert Burns (as a boy he had walked in Burns's funeral procession). In 1810 he moved to London and in 1814 became secretary to Sir Francis Chantrey, a post he held until Chantrey's death in 1841. This gave him a good knowledge of the contemporary artistic scene, which he put to use in his Lives of the Most Eminent British Painters, Sculptors, and Architects (6 vols., 1829–33). He also edited a revised edition of Pilkington's Dictionary of Painters (1840; see Fuseli) and wrote a life of Wilkie, posthumously published in 1843. See also Nollekens.