Joseph Ay Allen., an English landscape painter, born in Lambeth, London, in 1803, died Aug. 26, 1852. He was for a time usher in a school, but soon went to London to study art. At this time he used to paint signs and transparencies to eke out a subsistence, and afterward took up scene painting, finally becoming principal scene painter at the Olympic theatre. He had excelled in depicting quiet rural scenery; but when he began to employ the brilliant effects which should be confined to the stage, the results which he obtained were far inferior to those exhibited in his earlier productions. He was active in the establishment of the "Society of British Artists."