Mr Allen, 1745 (mezzotint on paper)

Portrait of Ralph Allen (1693-1764) painted by Thomas Hudson (1701-1779), portrait painter and art collector, and engraved by John Faber Junior (1695-1756), engraver and portrait and miniature painter. A man of considerable enterprise, Ralph Allen created a demand for Bath stone during the period of that city's rapid growth. He owned and operated quarries at Combe Down, through which he became sufficiently affluent to directly influence the expansion of Bath. He founded the Mineral Water Hospital, for example, and in 1722 was elected a member of Bath Corporation. He also backed the appointment of John Wood as city architect, after employing him to make the river Avon navigable down to Bristol. Allen's interests extended to the improvements of the postal system, for which he held a government contract.